Pure Metal News: July 2005

~Born From Pain on tour with Six Feet Under~ BORN FROM PAIN will be teaming up with labelmates SIX FEET UNDER for a European tour in the fall. SIX FEET UNDER / MANTAS / BORN FROM PAIN + support 23-10 France Rockstore Montpellier 24-10 Suisse C 4 Isilkon 25-10 Austria Dornbirn 26-10 Austria tba Linz 27-10 Austria Planet Music Vienna 28-10 Germany Hellraiser Leipzig 29-10 Germany Festival Geiselwind 30-10 Germany Metalmerien München 31-10 Germany Centrum Erfürt 01-11 Germany Zeche Carl Essen 02-11 Germany Röhre Stuttgart 03-11 Germany MuzikZentrum Hannover 04-11 Denmark Metal Fest Aalborg 05-11 Germany K17 Berlin 06-11 Germany East Club Bischofswerda 07-11 Denmark Loppen Kobenhavn 08-11 Germany N 8 Osnabrück 09-11 Holland Groene Engel Oss 10-11 Holland Bolwerk Sneek 11-11 Belgium Biebob Vosselaar Booking: www.metallysee.com ***   ~EDGUY - Michael Kiske to guest on EP ~ EDGUY's upcoming EP »Superheroes« due on September 5 will feature a special guest appearance by former HELLOWEEN frontman Michael Kiske. Commented EDGUY singer Tobias Sammet: "One of the tracks is a bombastic uptempo epic that's reminiscent of a mixture of heavy QUEEN, RICHARD WAGNER and AVANTASIA. So it was a MUST to ask Michael Kiske to do some guest vocals. To me, music is about goose bumps, and I had a lot when listening to Michi! To make it fair, we have decided that the CD shall be out in stores for the price of a CD single only! So make sure you persuade your friends that they buy it and don't copy it, maybe quality and value for money could be a promising kind of 'copy-protection!'" The »Superheroes« DVD — also due on September 5 — will contain the brand new video clip 'Superheroes', a couple of songs filmed live in Brazil, plenty of "behind-the-scenes" footage, a slide show, an extensive studio report with interviews and a chance to follow EDGUY backstage. "Our fans will love the fun part of it and I'm sure to them it's a classic," states Sammet. "And I am sure EDGUY haters will hate us even more and will think we are a bunch of wanna-be-funny-gay-idiots." The DVD will have a running time of approximately 80 minutes and will be available for the price of a DVD-single as well. *** ~IN FLAMES - New album delayed until February! ~ It was rumoured for a while, and dreaded by IN FLAMES fans, but now it's official: The next studio album which was recently re-christened to »Come Clarity« will not see the light of day this year as originally planned. The new release date for »Come Clarity is February 6. To hold fans over, IN FLAMES will release a live set on double-DVD/double-CD called »Used And Abused…In Live We Trust« on July 25. Click here for details. *** ~NIGHTWISH - Seek photos from »Once« tour~ NIGHTWISH have posted the following update at their website: "After the »Once« tour Nightwish will release an Off-Tourbook (like Tourbook) and need photos for it. All the photos along the tour are welcome, but what we REALLY want are photos you've taken with the member(s) or where the member(s) are on some funny/strange situation. We are not looking for live-photos but if you think you've got the best live photo ever, feel free to send it to us. Unfortunately we can't pay you anything for the photos, so in case you're not willing to give them for free, don't send them. In case your photos are used in Off-Tourbook your name will be mentioned on credits of a photos. So when sending us the photos remember to tell us what name you'd like us to add to the Off-Tourbook. Send picture(s) to jarmo@nightwish.com but before you do that, read instructions below: Subject of the message MUST be KUVIA KIERTUEKIRJAAN For example messages with subject like "These pictures are great" or "pics" will be handled using "delete"-button. We will not open them at all. Pack your pictures (with jpg) so that size of the message is not over 2 Mb!! It´s better to send one or two best pictures instead of sending 100 pictures..." *** ~MESHUGGAH - 'Shed' clip streamed online~ MESHUGGAH's video for the track "Shed" is available for streaming at MTV.com. 'Shed' comes off the Swedish experimental extreme metallers' latest album »Catch 33« which sold 6,954 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 170 on The Billboard 200 chart. As previously reported, NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS have officially confirmed that MESHUGGAH have re-signed with the label (»Catch 33« was the band's final CD under their previous contract). *** ~HAMMERFALL - More North America dates~ Sweden's HAMMERFALL and Germany's EDGUY will be teaming up for a North American tour beginning in early August. Confirmed dates are as follows: Aug. 10 - The Opera House - Toronto, ON - Canada Aug. 11 - Medley - Montreal, QC - CANADA Aug. 12 - L'Imperial - Quebec City, QC - Canada Aug. 13 - The Palladium - Worcester, MA Aug. 15 - Jaxx - West Springfield, VA Aug. 16 - B.B. Kings Blues Club - New York City, NY Aug. 17 - The Trocadero - Philadelphia, PA Aug. 19 - House of Blues - Cleveland, OH Aug. 20 - Madison Theatre - Covington, KY Aug. 21 - House of Blues - Chicago, IL Aug. 22 - Fine Line Music Café - Minnesota, MN Aug. 25 - Commodore Ballroom - Vancouver, BC - Canada Aug. 26 - Studio Seven - Seattle, WA Aug. 28 - DNA Lounge - San Francisco, CA Aug. 29 - The Galaxy Theatre - Santa Ana, CA Aug. 30 - The Avalon - Hollywood, CA Aug. 31 - Marquee Theatre - Tempe, AZ *** ~EXTOL TO HEADLINE DESTRUCTION FESTIVAL IN LONDON~ Century Media Records are pleased to be able to confirm that Norwegian metallers EXTOL are set to headline this years Destruction Festival on Saturday 23rd July at the Camden Underworld. This one-off appearance will be the band’s first return to the UK since their blistering tour with God Forbid in March of this year, when they performed new material from their critically acclaimed ‘The Blueprint Dives’ album. The Destruction Fest, run by the Glorious Undead Christian Church originally began life as a Hardcore Christian Festival but now in it’s fourth year, it’s main purpose is to bring together the cream of local and international bands, regardless of their personal religious beliefs to Camden Town - the heart of London's alternative culture, for a two day hardcore and metal festival and this year promises to be bigger, better and give you more punch for your pound with more bands than ever before and an all-dayer on Saturday, with any profits being donated to North London Action for the Homeless. http://WWW.DESTRUCTIONFEST.COM/ Band Line-up and ticket details below: Friday 22nd July 2005: Doors: 6pm (First band 7.15pm) *SEVENTH CROSS (UK METALLIC HARDCORE)* Awoken (UK hardcore) Today Forever (German hardcore) Taking Names (London hardcore) Hellbent Diehard (London hardcore) Saturday 23rd July 2005: Doors: 2pm (First band 2.30pm) *EXTOL (NORWEGIAN SCREAMO-CORE)* www.extolweb.com Slechtvalk (Dutch dark war metal) Diamanthian (Brutal UK death metal) Beef Conspiracy (UK extreme grind) Admonish (Swedish black metal) Nebukadnezza (London thrash metal mayhem) Ted Maul (London extreme metal) Raise the Dead (UK metalcore) Necrosadistic Goat Torture (London old school black/thrash metal) Bloodwork (London extreme metal) Trenchhead (London death metal) Tickets: £7 for Friday, £9 for Saturday, and weekend tickets £15 (plus agents booking fee if applicable). Ticket Web: Telephone - 08700 600 100. Website - http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/ Stargreen: Telephone - 020 7734 8932. Website - http://www.stargreen.com/ Way Ahead: Telephone - 020 7403 3331. Website - http://www.tickets-online.co.uk/ Tickets are also available from the Camden Underworld itself or The World's End pub, Camden. For more details and opening times, see http://www.destructionfest.com/ *** ~ARCH ENEMY: NEW MP3 FROM 'DOOMSDAY MACHINE' POSTED ON LINE~ If the postman is taking too long to deliver your copy of Arch Enemy’s new album "Doomsday Machine, then this is what you need – the album’s blistering lead off single, "Nemesis," has just been posted here: mms://mp3.centurymedia.com/01_Nemesis_64.wma The video for the track will be shot this week with director George Bravo, who has previously worked with the band on their "We Will Rise" video. Arch Enemy will then be heading off to the U.S. to join the mighty Ozzfest tour "Doomsday Machine" is set to be released on 22nd August 2005 Official Website - http://www.archenemy.net *** ~KRISIUN: Announce Additional UK Show~ The Brazilian kings of killing are heading back to Europe for some more extreme Death Metal live-mayhem this summer! Currently on an extensive tour all over North America with Hate Eternal, Incantation and Into Eternity, the almighty KRISIUN re-appear on European stages between August 6th and the 20th, showcasing them at festivals like Party-San (D), Summer Breeze (D), Mountains Of Death (CH), Mid Summer Fest (B) and Brutal Assault (CZ), also taking in two UK dates (details below) Directly after these dates, KRISIUN will be heading into Andy Classen’s Stage One Studio (Rotting Christ, Tankard, Disbelief) in Kassel, Germany, to start recording their new studio album. Their as yet, untitled new long-player and follow-up to the "Bloodshed" Mini-CD release promises to become another well-produced masterpiece of brutal Death Metal, the band previously recorded "Conquerors Of Armageddon" in the same location. Krisiun will be laying waste to the following venues 08. August 05 - London – Underworld (Tel: 020 7482 1932) (Doors 7:00pm / tickets £10.00 advance) *** NEW *** 09. August 05 - Brighton - Engine Room (Tel: 01273 323161 / http://www.engineroomclub.com/) (Doors 7pm / tickets £10) Check out the band’s official website: http://www.krisiun.com.br *** ~DISMEMBER - Like an Everflowing Stream reissue~ Street date: 18 July 2005 KARMA092 824971709225 It all started way back in 1988, when Fred Estby and David Blomqvist started DISMEMBER. After several line-up changes, joining members with Carnage, and even doing an album under the moniker Carnage (featuring Dismember songs) released by Earache Records in 1991, Fred, David and Carnage-vocalist Matti Karkki resurrect Dismember. With members from Unleashed and Carbonized joining in Dismember scores a record-deal with Nuclear Blast Records based on the legendary "Reborn in Blasphemy" demo. In May 1991 "Like an Everflowing Stream" is released and the album explodes into the expanding Death Metal scene like a big bomb !!! Re-press with 4 bonustracks. www.karmageddonmedia.com All orders to: Plastic Head Distribution Phone : + 44 (0)1491 825029 Fax : + 44 (0)1491 826320 E-Mail : tim@plastichead.com Website : www.plastichead.com *** ~GOD FORBID ANNOUNCE DETAILS OF NEW ALBUM~ GOD FORBID triumphantly return with IV:Constitution Of Treason, their most dynamic and devastating offering yet, which will undoubtedly solidify their position as one of the genre’s elite. The highly anticipated new offering was produced by Jason Suecof (Trivium) at Audiohammer Studios and Eric Rachel (Atreyu, Dillinger Escape Plan) at Trax East, who also handled mixing duties. In early 2004, GOD FORBID released the critically acclaimed Gone Forever album, which successfully bridged the gap between thrash, hardcore and traditional metal. They soon embarked on a few dates on the massive Jagermeister tour with Slipknot, Fear Factory and Chimaria leading them immediately into a highly successful nation-wide U.S. run with Machine Head. However, the group’s biggest break would come that summer on Ozzfest as their highly captivating and energetic performances quickly helped them garner a whole new devoted legion of fans. Whilst in the UK GOD FORBID made their mark with blistering performances on the NWOAHM tour with Killswitch Engage, Chimaira & Shadows Fall and returned earlier this year for a headlining tour with Extol. Doc Coyle (guitars, vocals) describes his thoughts on their new material: "Musically, it's a more refined and complex version of the traditional GOD FORBID sound, but offers several new twists and turns to the fold. I really think everyone will be surprised when they hear the growth in the vocals overall." IV:Constitution Of Treason is a huge step forward for the band in regards to songwriting as they clearly put more of an emphasis on developing the melodies and arrangements of each individual track, while the blistering guitar duo of Doc and Dallas Coyle delivers their most breathtaking performance yet. With four full-length releases and almost a decade of experience under their belts, the group now begins to show their true potential with this groundbreaking offering that will force the entire world to take notice. IV:Constitution Of Treason is due to be released on Monday 19th September 2005 Details of an exclusive London show will be announced shortly *** ~Erik Rutan Guest-Hosts on Sirius Satellite Radio~ Tune in to Hard Attack/27 on Sirius Satellite Radio this weekend at midnight Saturday night/Sunday morning to hear Hate Eternal frontman Erik Rutan take over the boards and guest-host an entire hour of metal madness on "Beyond The Pit"! Rutan dropped by the Sirius studio in New York City earlier this week in between shows on the band's headlining US tour. Sirius host Jose Mangin stepped aside and let Rutan take over the entire show, spinning classic metal of yesterday and today, including brand new tracks from Hate Eternal's new album, "I, Monarch" -- in stores now -- as well as Slayer, Krisiun, Premonitions Of War, and much more! Rutan's DJ set also features a very special guest appearance by Rutan's personal friend, the queen of all things heavy, Juliya C from Fuse TV. Tune in! *** ~ANATA Begin recording new album~ Technical death metal destroyers, ANATA will start recording the follow up to last years "Under A Stone With No Inscription' through July at Studiomega, Sweden, where the band have recorded all their output over the past decade. Starting today! Earache will be keeping you up to date with regular studio reports as work progresses but let’s start by hearing how ANATA frontman Fredrik Schalin is raring to get stuck in: “At the moment, the working title for this album is "The Conductor's Departure". It symbolises the losing of control of your own life. You have all these abilities and potential, but it's all going to waste because you can't make something out of it. Like an orchestra without the conductor, hence the title!” Some of the song titles already considered among the ten tracks of furious death metal are: "Complete Demise", "Downward Spiral Into Madness", "The Great Juggler", "I Would Dream Of Blood" and "Disobedience Pays". Over to Fredrik again: “In general this album will be a lot faster, but it also has a lot of slower, heavy and groovy sections. When it comes to brutality, impact and assault, I think most people should know what to expect from Anata. It will be brutal as hell, but it's also much more interesting when it comes to harmonies. I should tell you something about these” Which is exactly what he does: “The harmonies are much... deeper. Like our drummer Conny (Petterson) said the first time he heard some of it: ‘It really sounds like a skeleton playing an old church organ’. I have no idea what that might trigger in your mind, but I was flattered. The thing is that sometimes we should not talk about songs consisting of guitar riffs. Guitars, bass and drums were written at the same time, sometimes note by note. For some parts, if you take the bass guitar out, it will all sound very confusing. In a lot of the harmonies, the bass guitar is the key to the rest of the music. Therefore it will be pretty audible. Otherwise most metal bands seem to use this instrument as some kind of filling in the low end. That is such a waste”. *** WOLVERINE recording update~ Swedish Prog-Rockers, Wolverine are currently recording the follow-up to 2003's 'Cold Light of Monday', tentatively due later in the year through Elitist/Earache. The following recording update was posted on the band's official web site: 'Yesterday the recording of the drums began and to our great delight Marcus managed to lay down all songs except one on their first takes. The result is really great. It's always nice to be able to capture that extra energy that you tend to have during your first takes of a song. We recorded the drums at Studio Soundcreation in Bollnäs together with Per Ryberg with whom we recorded our very first EP with back in 1998. The reason we do the drums here and the rest at Spacelab is that it's darn expensive to transport the drums from Sweden to Germany. On Sunday we're off to Spacelab to continue our work. Can't wait!' *** ~ARSIS - Approved Guilty, THE sound of silence!~ Highly touted US outfit ARSIS have their debut, "A Celebration Of Guilt" album released in Europe through EARACHE / WILLOWTIP on the 11th July 2005. Highly touted US outfit ARSIS have their debut, "A Celebration Of Guilt" album released in Europe through EARACHE / WILLOWTIP on the 11th July 2005. Recorded when guitarist/songwriter James Malone and drummer Michael Van Dyne still operated as a studio based duo "A Celebration Of Guilt" has already seen them picking up Album of the year plaudits at metalreview.com and top 10 of last year from Digitialmetal, Into Obscurity and writers polls in Metal Maniacs and Unrestrained across North America. Following on from the initial praise heaped on ARSIS Michael Van Dyne relocated to Virginia and they solidified a live line-up and spent time catching up on live appearances. In this short time gigging ARSIS have shared stages with such notable bands as Six Feet Under, Dying Fetus, Pyrexia, Mortal Decay, Circle of Dead Children, The Red Chord, Neuraxis, Ion Dissonance, and many others. Check out what people have been saying about ARSIS: 666 metal.com: Anyone who considers themselves a fan of melodic death should immediately drop what they are doing and go out and get Arsis' debut album, A Celebration of Guilt. Aversionline: I fuc*ing love this goddamn band. Arsis has become one of the finest metal bands active today. Deadtide: You'd be hard pressed to find a better use of forty five minutes on a metal album this year and the intensity Arsis musters is unmatched by just about anyone else in the scene. Metal Reigns: All I have to say is every melodic death metal band should just quit now that I have heard this because no one in this melodic death metal sub-genre will ever top this! Metal Review: Arsis have managed to shame ten years of metal with but one release. PA Hardcore: I really don't know what to say about this CD other than HOLY CRAP THIS IS THE BEST CD EVER. Rock Review: Arsis has saved melodic death metal. A Celebration of Guilt lays waste to all other melodic death metal albums released in the last few years. The Band is currently preparing for tours, new video clip releases and writing has already begun for the bands hotly anticipated follow up album. *** ~LOST SOUL added to entire Blitzkrieg III European~ Lost Soul have just scooped a slot (alongside VADER, ROTTING CHRIST and ANOREXIA NERVOSA) on the entire Blitzkrieg III European tour which steamrollers through the continent between September 5th and October 23rd Originally Lost Soul were only due to lay waste to their native Poland but Drummer Adam Sierzega is fired up about their promotion the the entire jaunt: "It's killer news for all of us! We are so happy about being a part of this year's Blitzkrieg 3 tour. Originally we were only doing the Polish leg of the tour, but now we know that Lost Soul is going to play all the other European countries as well. It means almost 50 gigs almost everywhere in Europe! What can I say, it's really amazing!” And on sharing the stage every night with such a monstrous bill: “It is a honour to open before such awesome bands as Vader, Rotting Christ and Anorexia Nervosa. I'm sure it's going to be insanity every night! We will give you the best we have to offer. The essence of dark and brutal music, the embodiment of extreme art. So, be there. Hell awaits! See you soon, brothers!!!" Just in case you needed further persuasion. Here’s what Dom Lawson had to say about Lost Soul after being ripped apart live in Kerrang magazine A POLISH DEATH METAL ONSLAUGHT DEMOLISHES CAMDEN (4/5) Fu*k knows what Lost Soul were expecting, but the Polish quartet come out with fists and guitars raised as if they were about to lay waste to Wembley Arena. They're certainly good enough, if a bit too terrifying for mainstream tastes. Like much Polish death metal, Lost Soul are technically astonishing, but they also have incredible material. Songs from the recent 'Chaostream' pack the heaviest punch, but a couple of slower numbers from earlier albums emphasise this bands febrile volatility. All in all, an awe-inspiring performance. SEPTEMBER 2005 5th PL Warszawa - Proxima 6th PL Lublin - Graffiti 7th PL Rzeszów - Akademia 8th PL Kraków - Extreme 9th PL Katowice - Mega Club 10th PL Opole - MOK 11th PL £ód&Mac217; - Dekompresja 12th PL Toruñ - Od Nowa 13th PL Olsztyn - Come In 14th PL Gdañsk - Parlament 15th PL Szczecin - S?owianin 16th D Salzgitter - Forellenhof 17th D Osnabruck - B51 18th D Hamburg - Headbangers 19th S Gotheborg - Henriksberg 20th N Oslo - Betong 21st N Trondheim - Blaest 22nd S Stockholm - Club 666 23rd DK Kopenhagen - The Rock 24th NL Sneek - Bolwerk 25th NL Haarlem - Patronaat 26th B Gent - Eland 27th D Wuppertal - LCB 28th D Darmstadt - Goldene Krone 29th D Ludwigsburg - Rockfabrick 30th A Graz - Explosiv OCTOBER 2005 1st A Vienna - Music Planet 2nd I Codevilla - Thunder Road 3rd F Paris - La Maroquinerie 4th F Lyon - Le CCO 5th F Limoges - CMM John Lennon 6th E Tarragona - Golfus 7th E Madrid - Ritmo & Compas 8th POR Mangualde - CC Santo Andre 9th E Bergara - Sala jam 10th F Ramonville - Salle des Fetes 11th CH Geneva - L'Usine 12th CH Pratteln - Z7 13th F Strasbourg - La Laiterie 14th D Trier - ExHaus 15th NL Katwijk aan Zee - Scum 16th NL Eindhoven - Effenaar 17th D Paderborn - Kulturwerkstatt 18th D Munich - Titanic City 19th CZ Prague - Black Pes 20th CZ Ostrava - Tancirna 21st D Lipsk - Hellraiser 22nd D Berlin - K-17 23rd POL Zielona Gora * * without Rotting Christ, Anorexia Nervosa *** ~Chilean Church Seeks Ban On DEICIDE Show~ A DEICIDE concert in Chile appears to be in jeopardy after the Chilean church has 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. SRodrigo Orias, 26, slit Father Faustino Gazziero's throat, smeared his face with the victim's blood and then stabbed himself several times in the chest and neck with the same knife (photo of similar knife/dagger) at the conclusion of a Mass at Santiago's Metropolitan Cathedral on July 24, 2004 while hundreds of churchgoers watched in horror, according to published reports. Orias, who had a pentagram branded on the left side of his chest (covering his heart) and several other symbols of the occult tattooed on his body, reportedly asked DARK FUNERAL singer Emperor Magus Caligula during the Swedish black metal band's visit to Santiago in 2003 to burn an inverted cross on Rodrigo's arm with a cigar — a "mark" which Orias later planned to make into a tattoo. Last September, a Santiago court ruled that Orias was mentally ill when he committed the crime and ordered him to undergo psychiatric treatment instead of imprisonment. Judge Veronica Sabaj of the Third Criminal Court of Santiago determined that Orias was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, which is characterized by paranoid delusions and hallucinations, and decided against charging him with the murder of Father Faustino. Orias was said to be a huge fan of DEICIDE, who are scheduled to perform at the Gymnasium Nataniel on July 15. Aware of the killer's fanatical devotion to the long-running Florida-based death/satanic metal band's music and lyrical message, the Chilean deán of the Cathedral, Damián Mints, has asked the authorities to cancel the concert. Mints was said to be particularly disturbed by DEICIDE's anti-Christian stance and lyrics, including such lines as "You'll pay for the lies of your prophecy, Satan wants you dead, Kill the Christian," from the group's 1995 album, "Once upon the Cross". *** ~MUNICIPAL WASTE 'Hazardous Mutation' Is Complete~ Richmond thrash-core kings Municipal Waste have finished work on their debut album for Earache. Entitled "Hazardous Mutation", The Waste's new album was recorded in the band's hometown of Richmond, Virginia, by Corey Smoot (aka Flattus of Gwar). "We are very excited about this record and we feel its by far our best material to date," states frontman Tony Foresta. "Hazardous Mutation" features the debut of new drummer Dave Witte (Burnt By The Sun, Discordance Axis), and is highly recommended for fans of "crossover", particularly old DRI. (Also recommended for fans of beer bongs, Ocean Pacific couture, and wizards.) "Hazardous Mutation" features cover art by the one and only master of all thrash artwork, Ed Repka, best known for his work for Megadeth. "Hazardous Mutation" hits US stores Sept 20 (Aug 29 in the UK/Europe). In the meantime, check out an advance sample of "Unleash the Bastards" mp3 here and look out for The Waste on tour -- they're currently wrapping up an East Coast US tour with Coliseum but they'll be hitting the road again and again in 05 to spread the 'Mutation' across the globe. *** ~THE BERZERKER new album nearing completion~ Luke from The Berzerker has updated us on how things are developing with the Aussie outfit’s much-anticipated new album, tentatively titled “WORLD OF LIES”. Over to you Luke: “The 3rd Berzerker album titled "WORLD OF LIES" is nearing completion. All of the lyrics and music have finally been completed. All that’s left now is some final vocal recordings, adding sounds and samples and the final mix. I'm amazingly happy with the new material, the guitar and bass tones are the best to date. All vocals - both high and low - have been performed by myself and is super tight”. “We have definatly captured something very special on this album. "WORLD OF LIES" is filled with HUGE riffs supplied by the 2 guitarists that recorded on the first album, Adrian (from the Melbourne band Demon Other) and the ever-reliable Sam who has stuck by me from the very beginning. Lyrically the new album is a punishing attack on a unnamed individual that inspired the album title”. “The music has really taken on a life of its own with all the elements and classic feel of the early 90's death metal bands that started it all. Nothing has been lost, The Berzerker will never tire. The new album is more what you know and what you’ve grown to love... "WORLD OF LIES" bigger, better, faster, stronger, louder”!!! “The time is almost upon you. Prepare yourself for a "new" journey into a world each new step will give you a better understanding of your own reality”. Luke - The Berzerker July 2005. *** ~ALARUM dates down under in July~ Antipodean outfit Alarum have announced dates in Australia on the eve of the European release of their highly praised ‘Eventuality’ album, including two shows in Tasmania: 08 GEELONG (Vic) – Barwon Club Hotel Alarum, The Eternal, Befallen 15 PERTH (W.A.) - The Amplifier Bar Alarum, Voyager, Psychonaut & Grotesque 16 OSBONRE PARK (W.A.) - Soundworks Rehearsal Studio Alarum, The Furor – ALL AGES SHOW 23 MELBOURNE (Vic) - The Arthouse Insision (SWE.), Infernal Method, Alarum, Befallen, Excarnated 29 HOBART (Tasmania) - Polish club Sonic Distortion 3 with Alarum, Corpse Carving, Ice Eater, The Ghost And The Storm Outside, Goreverk, Ballpoint, Separatist – ALL AGES SHOW 30 LAUNCESTON (Tasmania) – Batman Fawkner Sonic Distortion 3 with Alarum, Zero Degrees Freedom, Intense Hammer Rage, Mephistopheles, Abacinate *** ~IN FLAMES - support Motörhead in the UK~ Sweden's IN FLAMES have been confirmed as the support act for MOTÖRHEAD on their U.K. tour this fall. Also appearing on the bill will be GIRLSCHOOL. ** ~SUBWAY TO SALLY - vote for 'Sieben' video!~ The clip for SUBWAY TO SALLY's new single 'Sieben' was added to the "Axt" program of German music channel VivaPlus. To get the clip on air instead of some whiny emocore stuff, you need to vote! Click here! *** ~SONATA ARCTICA - European tour in September Finnish melodic metallers SONATA ARCTICA will embark on a tour of Europe in September. Here is the list of the confirmed dates so far: SONATA ARCTICA + Guests 08.09.GER HAMBURG - Markthalle 09.09.NL DEN BOSCH - Willem 2 10.09.F REISMES - Reismes Festival 12.09.F BORDEAUX - Theatre Barbey 13.09.F TOULOUSE - Havanna Café 14.09.F LYON - Transboedeur 16.09.A WIEN - Planet Music 17.09.H BUDAPEST - Petöfi Hall 19.09.D MÜNCHEN - Backstage 20.09.I MILANO - Rolling Stone 21.09.D LUDWIGSBURG - Rockfabrik 23.09.BE ANTWERPEN - Hof Ter Lo 24.09.CH PRATTELN - Z 7 25.09.GER BOCHUM - Zeche *** ~ANTHRAX - message from Scott Ian~ ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian has posted the following message on the group's official web site: "I'm sitting in a cafe in Zagreb drinking really strong coffee and watching some guy with the greatest mullet I have ever seen. It's magnificent! The anti-mullet forces have not reached this far yet. Thank God! And he's got a Ditka moustache! I would try and take a picture but he's a shady character. Every ten minutes or so, young women who look to be of the world’s oldest profession, or whores as they like to be called, come in and talk to him. He hands them pieces of paper and they leave. Croatian pimps need to watch some rap videos for lessons in bling. This guy looks like the guy you'd buy a hot dog from outside Wrigley. "Zagreb is a cool city. Not too long ago there was a war going on here. I guess after years of war, British and American tourists are a welcome sight. The city is much like other Eastern bloc cities. Lot's of old beautiful buildings and way too many '60s & '70s ugly concrete communist architecture. And not a Starbucks in right! Yes, I would rather take the time to savor a local espresso in a cafe any day than a cup of what the McDonalds of coffee chains have to offer. Maybe if I drank fancy coffee drinks and frappacinos and the like, but I don't. I like it strong and black like oil in a little cup. I've heard from Joey Vera that the coffee in Turkey is amazing. I hope we get to go. "For those of you that don't care about my coffee musings, there are more interesting (maybe) topics ahead. I am patiently (not so patiently) waiting for the Yankees to start winning. No pitching. Old pitching. Giambi. They could be the first team with a payroll over 200 million to not even make the playoffs. hat would be a job well done. Think they'll lower the ticket prices next season? "The shows have been great on this tour. Once again, the Download festival was unbelievable. It was really a special one. I can't thank our U.K. fans enough. I hope these upcoming club shows in Colchester and Oxford will tide you over until the real headline tour next spring. Our set will be much longer than the Download set, that's for sure. "The Fury Fest was our first festival ever in France. Frankie and I watched FANTOMAS play. I am an unabashed fan of Mike Patton's. FAITH NO MORE, MR. BUNGLE, TOMAHAWK, FANTOMAS, all of it. Watching him conduct FANTOMAS was like watching some mad scientist at work. He holds that insanity together with a nod or a hand raise, or maybe it's just magic. I don't know. It was sonically one of the coolest things I've ever heard. Dark, disturbing and all tempered with a sense of humor and fun. A heavy metal Spike Jones? He's a fuc*ing genius. I can't wait to hear the PEEPING TOM record (one of his next projects). I got to see SICK OF IT ALL as well. They crushed as usual. The hardest working hardcore band in the business and they always deliver the goods. We headlined the main stage and our set was brilliant. Tres magnifique. Playing 'Antisocial' in France is always a hair on the back of the neck raiser. Joey [Belladonna] even sang the first verse in French!! Next time, we'll close with that one. We are the house band at the Graspop festival in Belgium having played there three years in a row. This year we headlined our stage. First time for that. I was excited about Graspop because I knew how great it would be. The show last year was the best of the tour and the excitement for the reunion show there was obvious. We finally got to hang with SLAYER. We kept missing each other in a bunch of festivals by one day. A lot of these fests have had us, SLAYER and MEGADETH but on different days. It's The Clash Of The Titans reunion almost. Of course SLAYER destroyed and they seemed to be in good spirits. I even caught Jeff smiling at me on stage. We tried to get Jamey from HATEBREED to sing 'New Level' [PANTERA] with us but he got cold feet. he told me how SLAYER had asked him to come up and sing with them in Munich when Tom lost his voice and he ended up singing 'Angel of Death' to 'Reigning Blood' (or the other way around)! We did it anyway with me singing and I've almost got it down. It's a really hard one to play and sing at the same time. Graspop was as good as I thought it would be. It's overall my favorite festival to be at because the vibe is always so good. SLIPKNOT ruled as well. I want to hit a keg with an aluminum bat so bad in 'Duality' you have no fuc*ing idea. After the show it was a huge hang with all the aforementioned bands plus IN FLAMES and MASTODON (who rip!!). That's what I love most about playing these Euro summer fests. You get to see all your friends at least once a year. It's like summer camp for metal. Our schedule has been so crazy. We've taken more flights than we've played gigs. Our bus has no AC and the air that does blow is full of diesel fumes. The bathroom stinks like The Gem Saloon on Deadwood (or at least what I imagine it to smell like). It's been rough, but the shows have been so great that they wipe off the stench and keep us going everyday. It's the opportunity to play these gigs that make us all want to be here. I didn't know how great the reception to this reunion was going to be. I hoped it would be like this but you can't bet on it. Thank you for going above and beyond my expectations. We're going to play as many shows all over the world as we can and take it from there. "Are we going to make a record? We're all open to the idea. The hard part is writing the songs. We're not just going to make a record because we got back together. The material would have to be amazing and inspiring enough for us to want to do it. It wouldn't be 'Among The Living 2'. It couldn't be the follow up to 'We've Come for You All' (that will be made), it would be its own thing. This lineup now. What that is I have no idea. We shall see. Thanks for sticking with us! I hope you're enjoying the new site. There's not too much content yet. It's coming. It looks great though. More skins coming. We're going to have band member pages and gear pages and I am going to start a personal photo archive and add to it constantly. Pics from 1981 until now. Maybe a pic of the week thing. Stay tuned. I dig the MySpace page. I've been slowly answering emails. I like seeing what you maniacs look like. "I've been getting good feedback on my Lyon guitar. It's the entry level guitar that Washburn made for Musicland stores. For such an inexpensive guitar, the quality is amazing. Thank you technology!!! Check out the pic of Thraxx's daughter rocking it! I will hopefully have some links soon from Washburn so you can check it out. The U.S. dates for the fall are coming together. We're putting together a slamming package. As soon as things are confirmed you'll know. "We've got titles and art for the upcoming releases as well. Keep checking in. That should all be announced momentarily." Check out some of Scott's pictures from the road at this location. *** ~CRIMINAL reveal track list for “Sicario”~ South American thrashers CRIMINAL have revealed the complete track listing for their new album “Sicario”, which will be released in Europe on September 5th, 2005 by Metal Blade Records. The album was recorded during the month of May at Andy Classen’s Stage One Studio (Dew-Scented, Disbelief, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, etc.). The title “Sicario” is a Spanish word for assassin and is most commonly associated with the South American mafias and drug cartels. Track listing “Sicario”: 1. Rise And Fall 2. Time Bomb 3. Walking Dead 4. The Root Of All Evil 5. Shot In The Face 6. Sicario 7. The Land God Forgot 8. Preacher Of Hate 9. Touch Of Filth 10. From The Ashes 11. Por La Fuerza De La Razón 12. Self Destruction The last track on the disc is a re-recorded version of “Self Destruction”, a song which originally appeared on the band’s debut album “Vicitimized” in 1994. It will be included as a bonus track on the European version only. On the musical direction of the album, vocalist/guitarist Anton Reisenegger comments: “It’s brutal, in-your-face thrash metal. I think in a time when everyone and their mother are trying to sound like At The Gates or In Flames, this is definitely going to turn some heads. I see it as being in the tradition of bands like Slayer, Sepultura, Machine Head, and Carcass, with massive riffs, very cool solos, and totally pissed-off vocals. Not to mention Zac’s insane drum work. Wait and hear for yourself!” Please print the news (or put it online) together with the attached band photo – thank you! “Sicario” will be released on September 5th, 2005 by Metal Blade Records Europe! www.criminal1.com *** ~AN EVENING WITH LACUNA COIL~ Century Media invites you to...an evening with Lacuna Coil Century Media and Lacuna Coil would like to invite you to join them for a series of intimate live performances in the UK in October. ‘An Evening With ….’ will be the first UK tour for Italian’s Lacuna Coil, whose previous UK shows included several sold-out performances in London and a stunning set at this years Download Festival, vocalist Cristina Scabbia says "We are all really excited about this UK tour! It’s something we have been planning for a long time now and finally we will be able to come closer the fans that could not make it to our previous London shows" ‘An Evening With …’ will see Lacuna Coil perform two separate sets each night – the first performance leading us gently into the night will be an acoustic set bringing to the forefront the ethereal and emotional qualities within Cristina Scabbia’s vocals. Whilst their second performance of the night will be the spectacular and powerful live performance showcasing the formidable musicianship that has taken Lacuna Coil to top of their genre. Cristina continues "We like to express different feelings with our music and the live setting is the best one in which to do that and with us performing two very different style of sets, I think it going to be is really nice to chill out for a bit and then we will totally rock out later! To be honest I can’t really tell you exactly what will be going on, every show can and does offer up different opportunities ..you’ll just have to come and find out for yourself!" Halloween is known for all ghouls and witches, from here on in it will be associated with bewitching beauty and haunting melodies. See Lacuna Coil at the following venues: October 2005 Thurs 26th - London - The Scala(Doors - 7pm / Tickets £15 / Box Office / Ticket info Tel: 020 7833 2022)Fri 27th - Manchester Academy 3 (Doors - 7pm / Tickets £12.50 / Box Office / Ticket info Tel: 0161 275 2930)Sat 28th - Glasgow – King Tuts Wah Wah Hut (Doors - 8pm / Tickets £10 / Box Office / Ticket info Tel: 0870 1690100 / www.scotland.ticketmaster.co.uk *** ~HOE tour update!~ Hey, Because of the strong demand the show in Erfurt had to be moved to a bigger venue. See below. HELL ON EARTH TOUR AS I LAY DYING, HEAVEN SHALL BURN, EVERGREEN TERRACE NEAERA, AGENTS OF MAN, END OF DAYS 23.09. Bochum – Matrix (Germany) 24.09. Bielefeld – Kamp (Germany) 25.09. Linköping – Deadfest (Sweden) 26.09. Aarhus – Train (Germany) 27.09. Hamburg – Markthalle (Germany) 28.09. Ludwigsburg – Rockfabrik (Germany) 29.09. Wien – Arena/ tbc (Austria) 30.09. Prague – Black Pes Club (CZ) 01.10. Erfurt – Stadtgarten (Germany) NEW VENUE!!! 02.10. Dresden – Reithalle (Germany) 03.10. Trier – Ex-Haus (Germany) 04.10. Rotterdam – De Barog (Netherlands) 05.10. Manchester – Music Box (England) 06.10. Newport – T.J.`s (England) 07.10. Yeovil – Flicks (England) 08.10. London – Mean Fiddler (England) 09.10. Hasselt – Muziek-O-Droom (Belgium) 11.10. Winthertur – Salzhaus (Switzerland) 12.10. München – Backstage (Germany) 13.10. Bologna – Estragon Club (Italy) 14.10. Schweinfurt – Alter Stadtbahnhof (Germany) 15.10. Berlin – So36 (Germany 16.10. Frankfurt – Antagonhalle (Germany) info: www.mad-tourbooking.de *** ~Upcoming concerts and tours for the Season of Mist bands~ BLOOD DUSTER "The Shape Of Death To Come" European tour 13 Jul 05 Berlin (DE) Rosis 14 Jul 05 Rostock (DE) Club Kulturgüterbahnhof 15 Jul 05 Hamburg (DE) Fundbureau e.V. 16 Jul 05 Wemelskirchen (DE) AJZ Bahndamm 17 Jul 05 Rotterdam (NL) Baroeg 23 Jul 05 Kawasaki (JP) Bottoms Up (+ King Goblin, Butcher ABC, Noise a go go! + GBN (a.k.a. Gore Beyond Necropsy)) 24 Jul 05 Shibuya (JP) Eggman (+ Defiled + Disconformity) 25 Jul 05 Ashikaga (JP) BBC Club (+ Gesewa + King Goblin) 26 Jul 05 Nagano (JP) J (+ Gods of Grind) 27 Jul 05 Shizuoka (JP) Sunash (+ Liquid Vision + Exoforce) 29 Jul 05 Osaka (JP) Pipe69 30 Jul 05 Fukui (JP) Butter (+ Super Negative King) 31 Jul 05 Nagoya (JP) Huck Finn (+ Gang Up On Against) MAYHEM 22-23 Jul 05 Tönsberg (NO) Slottsfjell festival www.slottsfjellfestival.no ESOTERIC 19 Aug 05 Cambridge (UK) Man on the Moon 26 Aug 05 Leipzig (DE) TBA 28 Aug 05 Rotterdam (NL) TBA 31 Aug 05 Prague (CZ) TBA 01 Sep 05 Basel (CH) TBA 03 Sep 05 Sint Niklaas (BE) Ashes to Ashes festival 04 Sep 05 Tilburg (NL) Ashes to Ashes festival MACABRE 29 Jul 05 Milwaukee (USA) Modjeska Theatre - Milwaukee Metalfest 18 18 Aug 05 Abtsgmünd (DE) Summer Breeze www.summer-breeze.de 19 Aug 05 Beroun (CZ) Fit of Rage VI Open Air 20 Aug 05 (DE) Kuele Open Air 21 Aug 05 Odense C (DK) Rytmeposten 25 Aug 05 Hengelo (NL) Metropool 26 Aug 05 Dordrecht (NL) Bibelot 27 Aug 05 Alkmaar (NL) Parkhof 28 Aug 05 Sint Niklaas (BE) Starz 29 Aug 05 London (UK) The Underworld 30 Aug 05 Birmingham (UK) Edwards No. 8 31 Aug 05 Glasgow (UK) The Barfly 01 Sep 05 Bradford (UK) Bradford Rio MY INSANITY 13-15 Aug 05 Utrecht (NL) Summer Darkness http://www.summerdarkness.nl PENUMBRA 13-15 Aug 05 Utrecht (NL) Summer Darkness http://www.summerdarkness.nl THE OLD DEAD TREE 13-15 Aug 05 Utrecht (NL) Summer Darkness www.summerdarkness.nl 10 Sep 05 Raismes (FR) Raismes Fest www.raismesfest.com/ 01 Oct 05 Quinperle (FR) TBA (+Eths +Texture) 07 Oct 05 Strasbourg (FR) La Laiterie (+ Epica) 08 Oct 05 St Avold (FR) Le 5 (+ Epica) 13 Oct 05 Eindhoven (NL) Effenaar (+ Epica) 14 Oct 05 Arnhem (NL) De Willem (+ Epica) 15 Oct 05 Utrecht (NL) De Helling (+ Epica) 16 Oct 05 Rotterdam (NL) Nighttown (+ Epica) 22 Oct 05 Brussel (BE) Female Voices Festival (+ Epica) 27 Oct 05 Barcelona (ES) (+ Epica) 28 Oct 05 Madrid (ES) (+ Epica) 29 Oct 05 Murcia (ES) (+ Epica) 31 Oct 05 Grenade (ES) (+ Epica) 01 Nov 05 Lisbonne (PT) (+ Epica) 04 Nov 05 Marseille (FR) Espace Julien (+ Epica) 03 Dec 05 (NL) Bagger Fest 10 Dec 05 Gif sur Yvette (FR) La Terrasse (+ Wungo) 17 Dec 05 Limoges (FR) Fest Noel CONFESSOR 17 Sep 05 Raleigh, North Carolina (USA) Lincoln Theatre (+ Alabama Thunderpussy + Soulpreacher) 22 Oct 05 Richmond, Virgina (USA) Alley Katz (+ Alabama Thunderpussy + Brain Police) ARCTURUS + CONFESSOR + RED HARVEST + NATTEFROST + TSJUDER 24 Sep 05 Oslo (NO) Rockefeller – Sonic Solstice GREEN CARNATION 30 Sep 05 Copenhagen (DK) Stenegade 30 01 Oct 05 Baarlo (NL) ProgPower Europe 14 Oct 05 Toronto (CA) Day of The Equinox ARCTURUS + RED HARVEST(as of the 1st until the 15th of October) + KILL THE THRILL (as of the 17th until the 25th of October) 01 Oct 05 Malmö (SE) KB 02 Oct 05 Hamburg (DE) Markthalle 04 Oct 05 Paris (FR) La Locomotive 05 Oct 05 London (UK) Underworld 06 Oct 05 Nottingham (UK) Rock City 07 Oct 05 Haarlem (NL) Patronaat 08 Oct 05 Arnhem (NL) Goudvishal 09 Oct 05 Tilburg (NL) 013 11 Oct 05 München (DE) Backstage 12 Oct 05 Praha (CZ) Rock Cafe 13 Oct 05 Vienna (AT) Planet Music 14 Oct 05 Codeville (IT) Thunder Roadhouse 15 Oct 05 Bassano del Grappa (IT) Transsilvania Live 16 Oct 05 Geneva (CH) Al Usine 17 Oct 05 Salon de Provence (FR) Portail Coucou 19 Oct 05 Lyon (FR) Ninkasi 20 Oct 05 Barcelona (ES) Mephisto 21 Oct 05 Alicante (ES) Stereo Club 22 Oct 05 Madrid (ES) Ritmo & Compass 23 Oct 05 Irun (ES) Trunk 25 Oct 05 Rennes (FR) UBU 26 Oct 05 Essen (DE) Zeche Carl 27 Oct 05 Hasselt (DE) Muziekodroom 28 Oct 05 Cobenhagen (DK) Stengade *** ~SONATA ARCTICA - European tour in September ~ Finnish melodic metallers SONATA ARCTICA will embark on a tour of Europe in September. Here is the list of the confirmed dates so far: SONATA ARCTICA + Guests 08.09.GER HAMBURG - Markthalle 09.09.NL DEN BOSCH - Willem 2 10.09.F REISMES - Reismes Festival 12.09.F BORDEAUX - Theatre Barbey 13.09.F TOULOUSE - Havanna Café 14.09.F LYON - Transboedeur 16.09.A WIEN - Planet Music 17.09.H BUDAPEST - Petöfi Hall 19.09.D MÜNCHEN - Backstage 20.09.I MILANO - Rolling Stone 21.09.D LUDWIGSBURG - Rockfabrik 23.09.BE ANTWERPEN - Hof Ter Lo 24.09.CH PRATTELN - Z 7 25.09.GER BOCHUM – Zeche *** ~SUBWAY TO SALLY - vote for 'Sieben' video!~ The clip for SUBWAY TO SALLY's new single 'Sieben' was added to the "Axt" program of German music channel VivaPlus. To get the clip on air instead of some whiny emocore stuff, you need to vote! *** ~IN FLAMES - support Motörhead in the UK~ Sweden's IN FLAMES have been confirmed as the support act for MOTÖRHEAD on their U.K. tour this fall. Also appearing on the bill will be GIRLSCHOOL. A complete listing of currently confirmed tour dates can be found at this location: http://www.nuclearblast.de/band_showa.php?action=live&artist=30 *** ~DARKANE - two daddies!~ Swedish thrashers DARKANE have posted the following message on their official web site: "Good news and bad news.... "Unfortunately, DARKANE will not be able to perform at the {S}Hammer Metal Festival in Castel Volturna, Italy on September 3rd as previously advertised on the festival's website. After careful consideration, the band have decided not to perform at this festival, but with very good reason. DARKANE wish to extend their deepest apologies to all of the fans who have shown their excitement and support for this performance and also to the organizers, however, brace yourself for the reason why... "The DARKANE family is growing, and at rapid speed! At the end of August, Peter [Wildoer, drums] is expecting his first child! Peter and the band felt that it was too risky to attempt missing the birth of his baby as the date of the festival and the date of the birth are far too close together. Everyone in the DARKANE camp wish Peter nothing less than all of the luck in the world and hope that everyone understands the reason for pulling out of the {S}Hammer Metal Fest. "But that's not all... I said the DARKANE family was growing at rapid speed... "On December 30th, our own Christofer Malmström will also become a father! I suppose the recording of the far beyond phenominal »Layers of Lies« truly inspired our boys in more ways than one! Again, we all wish to extend to Christofer all of our support and happiness for what he and Peter are about to embark on. "In other news, tour plans are in the works so please be on the look out for that, as well as some one off shows here and there to get these guys out and on stage again. It's about time, wouldn't you agree? In the meantime, there's no excuse why everyone in Europe shouldn't own 'Layers of Lies' by now. As for our friends on the other side of the pond, I'm sure you're already camping out anticipating the North American release July 12th." *** ~DEW-SCENTED - US tour in November~ DEW-SCENTED will embark on a US tour with polish death metallers DECAPITATED and headliners VADER: Nov. 05 - Worcester, MA Nov. 06 - Springfield, VA Nov. 07 - New York City, NY Nov. 08 - Cleveland, OH Nov. 09 - Chicago, IL Nov. 10 - Minneapolis, MN Nov. 11 - Winnipeg Nov. 12 - Regina Nov. 13 - Saskatoon Nov. 14 - Calgary Nov. 15 - Edmonton Nov. 16 - Vancouver Nov. 17 - Seattle Nov. 18 - Portland Nov. 19 - San Francisco, CA Nov. 20 - Los Angeles, CA Nov. 21 - Santa Ana, CA ov. 22 – Phoenix, AZ Nov. 24 - Corpus Christi, TX Nov. 25 - San Antonio, TX Nov. 26 – Houston, TX Nov. 27 - Oklahoma City, OK Nov. 28 – St. Louis, MO Nov. 29 - Dayton, OH Nov. 30 - Utica, NY *** ~SOILWORK - European tour planned for October~ SOILWORK Frontman Bjorn "Speed" Strid has posted the following update at the band's official website: "Hi again! I know that there's been a lot of people asking when we'll do the next European tour. Well, all I can say that the tour is shaping up right now and will start sometime in the very beginning of October and last until the end of October. I can assure you that we'll bring some other cool bands with us as well. The bill's gonna be great!! As for Australian/South American/Japanese tours, we're still waiting for confirmations. We usually do Japan and Australia as a 'combo' and it looks like it will happen in the end of this year. And South America, don't worry, we'll make sure we cover up your beautiful continent for this album as well!! Stay Tuned!" Speed *** ~HAMMERFALL - co-headlining tour with Stratovarius~ HAMMERFALL guitarist Oscar Dronjak has posted the following update at the band's official website. " First off, sorry for not updating the news in a while. As you probably know, we have been on tour quite a lot the past months, and that is one of the reasons for my tardiness. But, if you live in Europe, I guarantee you it was worth the wait: the fall/winter of 2005 will see HAMMERFALL and STRATOVARIUS doing a double headliner on the road together! For five-and-a-half weeks, we'll be travelling around, from Finland and Sweden in the north to Italy and Spain in the south, from France and Benelux in the west to Slovenia and Hungary in the east, and Germany and Austria and everything else in between. It will be total madness, and a lot of fun times for everyone! Check this location for more details regarding this monumental live experience, as I'm sure it will be remembered. Oscar" HAMMERFALL + STRATOVARIUS October 26 in Helsinki, Finland at Kulttuuritalo 28 in Tampere, Finland at Pakkahuone 29 in Turku, Finland at Caribia 30 in Umeå, Sweden - venue tba November 1 in Oslo, Norway at Rockefeller 2 in Stockholm, Sweden - venue tba 4 in Cologne, Germany at Palladium 5 in Borgerhout, Belgium at Hof Ter Lo 6 in Tilburg, Holland at 013 7 in London, England at KOKO 9 in Lille, France at Splendid 10 in Hamburg, Germany at Docks 11 in Osnabrück, Germany at Halle Gartlage 12 in Paris, France at Elysée Montmartre 13 in Paris, France at Elysée Montmartre 16 in Barcelona, Spain at Razzmatazz 17 in Murcia, Spain at Sala Gamma 18 in Murcia, Spain at La Riviera 19 in Pamplona, Spain at Pabellon Anaitasuna 21 in Lyon, France at Transbordeur 23 in Pratteln, Switzerland at Z7 24 in Fürth, Germany at Stadthalle 25 in Pratteln, Switzerland at Z7 26 in Kaufbeuren, Germany at All-Karthalle 27 in Milano, Italy at Alcatraz 29 in Ljubljana, Slovenia at VPK Mediapark 30 in Vienna, Austria at Planet Music December 1 in Budapest, Hungary at Petöfi Hall 3 in Czech, Zlin at Vanue Novesta 4 in Berlin, Germany at Kesselhaus *** ~CANDLEMASS - Bang Your Head report from Leif~ CANDLEMASS bassist/main songwriter Leif Edling has posted a report from the band's recent appearance at the Bang Your Head festival in Balingen, Germany. Check it out at this location. CANDLEMASS are continuing to tour in support of their brand-new self-titled album, which entered the Swedish national album chart at position No. 7 upon its release in early May. The CD also came in at No. 5 on the Sweden chart (featuring only Swedish artists) and at No. 1 on the Hard Rock/Metal chart. Upcoming CANDLEMASS shows: Jul. 08 - Rockwave Festival – Athens, GRE Aug. 04 - Wacken Festival – Wacken, GER Aug. 08 - Göteborgskalaset – Gothenburg, SWE Aug. 26 - Gorbunova – Moscow, RUS Nov. 26 - Arnhem Metal Meeting – Arnhem, NETH *** ~DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER - 'wall of love' for Lemmy!~ When DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER, Germany's craziest metal bunch, play at the With Full Force festival at the beginning of July, they send some special 'Get well soon!' greeting to MOTÖRHEAD frontman Lemmy, who had to be taken to the hospital before the same weekend. Here's what they: DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER counted "1-2-3-Cuddle!" – and 15.000 fans hugged the life out of each other! The original 'Wall Of Love', especially for one of Rock'n'Roll's greatest! Now, who says metal fans do not have a heart? *** ~AS I LAY DYING command acclaim with "Shadows Are Security"!~ Their record breaking, Metal Blade Records release. AS I LAY DYING torched the stage June 24th to a sold out crowd at the CD Release Party at Soma, San Diego’s legendary music hot spot!!! AILD will continue to create pandemonium on Ozzfest 2005 where they co-headline the second stage along side Killswitch Engage and Rob Zombie. Now, these metal core mavens are headed to tell all on MTV2’s Headbangers Ball July 9th!!! *AS I LAY DYING’s Shadows Are Security arrived on the Billboard charts at #1 independent record in the country and # 35 on the Top 200. and now in week two we tally over 47,000 copies sold first two weeks alone, that is Metal Blade Record's biggest number and highest charting position since the Goo Goo Dolls (the Goo Goo Dolls was a joint effort with Warner Brothers- so this is Metal Blade's biggest solo release ever.) *On June 24th AS I LAY DYING whipped their home town of San Diego into a frenzy at their CD release show at Soma in support of Shadows Are Security. Next, AILD will be playing the upcoming Christian Cornerstone festival on July 1st in Marietta Illinois. AILD are set to bring the mayhem to the masses this summer as they co-headline the second stage on Ozzfest 2005. The band also has several off-fest dates with Killswitch Engage and Soilwork. Below is their complete touring schedule. **And as if all these accomplishments weren’t enough the band went and won the Yahoo! Music Who’s Next contest by gaining the majority of votes! They were up against acts such as Armor For Sleep, The Forecast, and Bedouin Soundclash. Vocalist Tim Lambesis comments, "It’s not only an honor to have won, but to also have been one of the heaviest bands to participate in the Who's Next contest. We would like say thanks to Yahoo! Music and all of the people that voted for us over the course of the contest. We received an overwhelming majority of the votes which was amazing. Thanks to everyone for your support and we can’t wait to see you out on the road this summer on Ozzfest." http://www.asilaydying.com *** ~BOLT THROWER 4th studio report from Martin Kearns (drums)!~ OK, I know I’ve finished my recording, but it looks like I’m gonna be doing the next couple of studio diaries before I hand over to Karl... Well, everyone’s happy with Baz’s rhythm sound, so that remains untouched throughout his recording. He’ll be doing 2 rhythm tracks per song, and later into it he’ll be doing the melody and solo parts with a more ‘effected’ sound. Once, he’s warmed up, the first couple of songs he runs through pretty easily, although his dodgy back is giving him a few problems. He’s tries a few various recording positions, and eventually adopts the standing stance that gives him the least pain for the rest of the recording! Ah, the joys of being a 30+ musician, haha... The next song is one of the faster ones, and Jo’s chuffed cos it’s her personal favorite, we all finally decided on a title for it too today, I won’t say now, I’ll let Karl give you an insight into the lyrics and titles later on... Gav’s favorite song is next, this is the epic one on the album, and possibly the title track. Each of us has different faves, so I guess that’s a good sign. The next couple of songs, Baz rolls through relatively easily, just a few ‘wobblers’ (as Andy calls them) on the power chords, but no major problems... The arrival of Baz’s new guitar stirred things up a little today. He started to set it up with an option of recording some of the parts with it, then when Baz went back to his old one to continue recording the song, the guitar seemed to get wind of the fact it was being ‘phased out’ and completely cut out! An hour of panicking, opening it up, checking wiring, pots, electrics, leads, etc.. and eventually resorting to praising the guitar for its devoted service, and it decided to work again. Co-incidence or….? Anyway, just in case, Baz decides to use the ‘old faithful’ for the rest of the album... Back to normality and Baz rolls through the next few songs without any problems, and we eventually get to the last few songs. The last 3 were the ones that were slightly weaker than the rest so we know it’s now or never if we want to change things. We decide to spend the time trying out new riffs, and what is eventually agreed on is all for the better. I reckon some of BT’s best stuff has was written in the studio – look at 'Cenotaph'. We still play that song live and it still sounds killer... Well, that’s about all I can write about the first guitar tracks going down, I guess you have to be here to appreciate what a pleasure it is to hear this album coming together. Maybe we’ll film a bit of studio stuff later on and stick it on the site for you all, we’ll see... Next up is Gav! http://www.boltthrower.com *** ~CALLENISH CIRCLE studio updates from Maurice Brouwers (bass)!~ Hi there folks... you probably expected some lines from Rocco here, so first let me introduce myself. My name is Maurice Brouwers, bass player from Dutch Thrash band Engine of Pain. Just a couple weeks ago I got a quite surprisingly and unexpected phone call from the Callenish lads if I wanted to play bass on their new album... and of course I wanted to do that! So after a couple of very intensive rehearsals and long days working together with Ron and Gav we managed to create some really cool bass lines. Before we actually started recording we had to find a suitable bass sound and in order to get that sound we borrowed some equipment here and there. Thanx and appreciation go out to Junior (Desentisised) & Pol (Morning)! We tried a couple of different set ups and finally found a very heavy and bad ass sound. The first very long recording day went pretty well and we recorded almost 5 songs. I only had some sound problems with my bass, so we decided to record with my other bass which sounded much heavier. The second day was again a very long working day and it was more difficult since these songs were quite new song to me. Some of them were re-written/arranged in the studio, so also most of the bass lines had to be re-written/arranged in the studio. But together with Gail (producer) and Ron I managed to record them and they really sound killer. Next week I will record some minor stuff that we didn’t have time for this time. Next up is Pat to record some shredding vocals... go for it! In other news, Callenish Circle has just confirmed a series of festival appearances. CALLENISH CIRCLE 8/12 Prelouce, Czech Republic Brutal Assault Festival 8/19 Vigo, Spain Revoltallo Festival XII 10/12 Amersfoort, Holland Synergic Forces Festival 11/12 Sliedrecht, Holland Metal Day Festival 11/26 Arnhem, Holland Arnhem Metal Meeting http://www.callenish-circle.com *** ~GOATWHORE dispel rumors and announce shows!~ We all know many rumors have been born over the past 8 months about what had happened to us. Just to let everyone know that everything is perfectly fine and that we are working hard on new material for our debut release under Metal Blade Records. In the meantime we will be doing a few weekend shows on and off from now until the end of the year. As soon as we get closer to entering the studio we will post as much information about it as possible. For now, come out to any of the shows that may pop up in the tour section. As the months progress we will also be adding in new material. *live photo by Aaron Pepelis http://www.returntothepit.com/ http://www.goatwhore.net *** ~THE ABSENCE recaps tour with Bloodjin!~ Hey guys! We are back (for the time being) from our mini-tour with Bloodjin (You definitely need to check them out ASAP, if you haven't already!), and we just wanted to say THANK YOU to all of the people that came out to the shows in New Orleans, Tallahassee, and Tampa. We had a blast to say the least. Extra special thanks goes out to the guys in Skinkrawl for taking such good care of us. Don't forget to check out our tour section for the rest of the dates to our Summer/Fall tour with the mighty Bloodjin! Well, that's it for now... See all of you out on the road this fall. Stay Brutal! Jamie http://www.theabsence.com *** ~SYMPHORCE live @ Earthshaker festival!~   SYMPHORCE have been confirmed to play the EARTHSHAKER festival Geiselwind (Germany) on the 22nd of July at 11:10am. They are going to play a new song of the forthcoming album "Godspeed" as well as loads of songs from the previous records! www.symphorce.net A couple of more dates have been added to the co-headline tour of THE RED CHORD and BURY YOUR DEAD. Update your files! THE RED CHORD/BURY YOUR DEAD tour: 20.10.2005 Holland Arnhem Goudvishal 21.10.2005 Germany Bochum Matrix 22.10.2005 Germany Trier Exhaus, October Blast Fest 23.10.2005 Germany Schweinfurt Alter Stattbahnhof 24.10.2005 Germany München Backstage 25.10.2005 Slovakia Bratislava Stoka 26.10.2005 Hungary Budapest Kultiplex 27.10.2005 Austria Vienna Arena 28.10.2005 Poland Lodz Dekompresja 29.10.2005 Germany Chemnitz AJZ, Lifeforce Fest 30.10.2005 Germany Berlin Magnet 31.10.2005 Holland Hengelo Innocent 01.11.2005 TBA 02.11.2005 TBA 03.11.2005 Sweden Linkoping Skylten 04.11.2005 Sweden Gothenburg Henriksberg 05.11.2005 Denmark Aalbourg Metal Fest, Studenterhuset 06.11.2005 Belgium Kontich Lintfabriek 07.11.2005 UK Norwich Waterfront 08.11.2005 UK Sheffield The Corporation 09.11.2005 UK London Underworld 10.11.2005 UK Nottingham Rock City 11.11.2005 UK Manchester Satans Hollow 12.11.2005 TBA 13.11.2005 UK Newport TJ´s 14.11.2005 TBA 15.11.2005 France Toulouse Vents du Sud 16.11.2005 Italy Bologna Estragon 17.11.2005 Italy Roma La Strada 18.11.2005 Switzerland Oberentfelden Böröm Pöm Pöm 19.11.2005 Germany Karslruhe Jubez *** ~SUNDOWN FESTIVAL billing complete!~ Undertow, Koroded and Cataract, who were all previously announced for this year's SUNDOWN Festival, are now confirmed to play SUNDOWN 2006. By that time all three bands will have new albums to present. Replacing them on this year's bill are EKTOMORF, BETZEFER and DISBELIEF, who are playing a joint European tour in October. This "power trio" completes a very varied line-up for SUNDOWN 2005, which can be experienced for an extremely convenient ticket price! SYNUS will open the proceedings at 14:30 sharp, and the festival will also include performances by JUSTICE, EQUILIBRIUM, THE DUSKFALL, SYMPHORCE, GRAVEWORM, PRIMORDIAL and RAGE. If you haven't ordered your tickets already, we recommend you do so now, for last year a lot of people who waited until the last minute were disappointed when the festival got sold out. Tickets purchased in advance are only 16 Euros (plus 2 Euros pre-sale fee). If you buy tickets through our homepage (www.sundown-festival.de), orders for 5 tickets and over get free shipping, too! SUNDOWN FESTIVAL 2005 22nd October 2005 GAILDORF / KÖRHALLE / GERMANY RAGE – EKTOMORF – PRIMORDIAL – SYMPHORCE – BETZEFER – DISBELIEF GRAVEWORM – THE DUSKFALL – EQUILIBRIUM – JUSTICE – SYNUS www.sundown-festival.de *** ~CRYPTOPSY COMPLETE NEW ALBUM~ Montreal’s “extreme metal champions” Cryptopsy, “the most technically proficient and mind-jarring death metal band on the planet” (BW&BK), have completed recordings for their yet-to-be titled Autumn release. 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 16th 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.” Cryptopsy will be touring extensively across North America this Autumn with Suffocation and Aborted - for the dates or any other information on the band check out their official website here, or at www.centurymedia.com *** ~AS I LAY DYING vs. YAHOO!~ AS I LAY DYING have won the "who´s next" contest on Yahoo! Thanks for all those who voted and Congratulations to the band for another strike in the name of metal! For your viewing and listening pleasure Yahoo! have uploaded a live video stream and an interview with the band. Check it out and spread the word! http://music.yahoo.com/promotions/whosnext/default.asp   *** ~Metal Blade Rrroooaaarrr Anniversary party info~ The billing for the METAL BLADE RRROOOAAARRR (Metal Blade Europe’s 10th Anniversary party!) is complete! We are very happy to announce that the mighty POWERWOLF will open the night of Metal in Stuttgart. Additionally, the running order for the event has been completed. Be there on the 2nd of October in the LKA (Longhorn) in Stuttgart to expect the following: POWERWOLF 18:00-18:30 30min. CATARACT 18:45-19:25 40min. PRIMORDIAL 19:45-20:35 50min. BRAINSTORM 20:55-21:55 60min. AMON AMARTH 22:15-23:30 75min. ALLSTARBAND 23:30-??? All bands will be performing special sets with a few surprises in their setlists! After the AMON AMARTH gig a Metal Blade all-star-band will be playing a few cover tunes! Of course we have a bit more to offer: Every visitor will get a free CD! There will be special event merchandise for fair prices available at the venue. In-between the bands there will be presentations and lotteries – lots of goodies will be raffled among the visitors! Tickets for the METAL BLADE RRROOOAAARRR are only available via www.metalblade.de – each ordered ticket includes a free poster. Tickets are only 20,00 Euros. We recommend to order tickets in advance.

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