ANCIENT CEREMONY will headline The Underworld in London, England on June 23rd. Other bands on the bill include BEHEMOTH, APRIL ETHEREAL and EPITOME.

Soul Sold Music are set to release the new album from SATHANAS, Jaws Of Satan. The CD will include all of the band's demo tracks, some live tracks and a cover version. The tracklisting: 'Jaws Of Satan' (demo), 'Blood Sacrifice' (demo), 'Sathanas' (demo), 'Hail Lucifer' (demo), 'Jaws Of Satan' (live), 'Nocturnal Hell' (SLAUGHTER cover, live), 'Blood Sacrifice', 'Palace Of Belial', 'Into Darkness', 'Legion Of Hate', 'Congregation Of The Dead', 'Watch 'Em Bleed', 'Wicked Prophets', 'Angels Demise', 'Demonic Force' and 'Amputate'.

DIABLERIE will soon release their debut album, Seraphyde, recorded at Sundi Coop studio in Savonlinna, Finland.

The tentative title of ARCTURUS' next studio album is The Sham Mirrors.

The new ARKHON INFAUSTUS album, Hell Injection, is delayed due to a problem of censorship at the labels printer. They refused to print the artwork, finding it 'too shocking'.

NECROPHOBIC have parted ways with Black Mark Productions. The band will perform at the Under The Black Sun Festival, which will take place in Germendorf (near Berlin), Germany on July 6th - 7th.

DARKANE have been added to the line-up of bands performing at the Decibel Festival in Bengtsfors, Sweden on May 19th.

MORTICIAN will headline Relapse Records Contamination 3.2 at the Balcony Bar in Philly on May 25th

CEPHALIC CARNAGE are planning to enter the studio soon to record tracks for an upcoming 3" MCD on Willowtip, the tracks for the split MCD with ANAL BLAST to be released by Nightfall Records and also tracks for a couple of upcoming split 7" singles, including a split with LAUGHING DOG, to be released sometime this summer on the Relapse Single Series.

DECEASED just finished up the recordings of the Behind The Mourner's Veil MCD and the originally announced track listing has been slighty altered. The MCD will now include three new songs: 'It's Alive!', 'The Mausoleum' and 'Victims Of The Masterplan'. The CDEP will also contain the following cover songs: 'Zombie Attack' (TANKARD), 'The New Age Of Total Warfare' (WARFARE), 'Reaganomics' (DRI) and 'Deathrider' (ANTHRAX).

After a nearly four year absence, the legendary Swedish death metal masters UNLEASHED have announced the following four shows in June: 8 - Mind Over Matter Festival, Wiesen, Austria, 22 - Tilburg, Holland, 23 - Graspop Festival, Dessel, Belgium and 24 - With Full Force Festival, Leipzig, Germany. Johnny, Anders, Tomas and Fredrik are currently working on a new album for an early 2002 release INCANTATION heads to Brazil for the first time ever, blazing a trail of blasphemous death metal with REBAELLION and various local Brazilian bands thru the month of MAY. This will be the first tour since the abrupt stop of the "World Of Darkness" US tour. United in Repugnance, Incantation returns with vengeance and fury to annhilate the tablets of judgement and deliver blasphemy to the death metal freaks of Brazil. For the exact dates check out our tourdates section.

The busiest man in metal today, KILLJOY, has a lot on his sick platter. With the new label partnership with Philip Anselmo, and his many projects on the go things look to be shaping up, especially since NECROPHAGIA have officially signed with Season Of Mist and are preparing to unleash their new EP Cannibal Holocaust. Killjoy himself gave a sneak preview of some new material; a track of the sick and monstrous sounding 'Gorelord' which Killjoy and Philip will release on their label Baphomet / Housecore, a song off his new WURDULAK project which he teams up with Maniac of MAYHEM and Iscariah of IMMORTAL which sounds utterly insane and a sneak preview of the awesome new NECROPHAGIA song, 'Cannibal Holocaust'. "The Cannibal Holocaust CD is going to have demo tracks, and unreleased stuff, like we're going to have a song called 'Baphomet Rises' and have demo tracks of 'It Lives In The Woods' and  'Burning Moon Sickness' which was off some of our vinyl releases. The production on the new stuff is going to be much better, we're going to have a bigger production. The video we shot of it is just studio footage, my vocals parts are not studio footage and a bunch of clips from the movie Cannibal Holocaust. But we also shot a real video for 'They Dwell Beneath' and it's really out of control." So what's up with the label and how is it shaping up? "What me and Philip were going to do was talk to other labels about being a sub of them but it doesn't really make financial sense because there's only so much money after manufacturing and advertising and we have a few things that are going to sell really big, but other than that you're talking anywhere from 5000 to maybe 50, 000. We re just going to probably going to go with this big distro in the US called ADA. It's pretty big, bigger than Caroline. With Europe it's still untapped, and I don t know what we're going to do with Canada." What will be the first release under Baphomet / Housecore moniker? "Well that's what me and Philip have to figure out. It's either going to be GORELORD, SUPERJOINT RITUAL, or SOUTHERN ISOLATION. And WURDULAK? I'm not sure if we're going to do that on our label or shop it so I'm guessing sometime this year but I don't know when." So when are we going to expect Harvest Ritual, the next NECROPHAGIA full length? "Not until April of 2002. We have some songs written but when I listen to them I think we can take them up another level. I'm just probably going to stay with Philip all of November and December, just writing and then take the whole month of January and record it and then release it on April." What's up with THE RAVENOUS? "We start recording the new album in August. We were going to start sooner but I'm not sure what label we're going to go with RAVENOUS since we left Hammerheart. And AMICUSS? "Well it's going to get pushed as well because we were going to start with that in September and October but that will have to wait until we're done with the NECROPHAGIA and when Casey is done with the next AMEN. They're actually starting the new AMEN in September but it will work really well scheduling wise because I have to, for better or for worse, when I get back from Philip's I have to take a break from June until it is time to do the Ravenous album in August." Finally, everyone is obviously wondering what the deal is with EIBON? "Who knows? I've just lost complete interest, and that was the whole point of doing WURDULAK. I mean EIBON should have been out a year ago and Satyr just has to drag everything out. I mean the WURDULAK CD was written in like six weeks and recorded in two weeks, so why does it take three years to write one black metal album that s nothing new you know."

IMPALED NAZARENE are busy writing their seventh studio album, Absence Of War Does Not
Mean Peace. So far, the band has finished the following songs: 'The Lost Art Of Goat Sacrificing', 'Nyrkillä Tapettava Huora', 'The Madness Behind', 'Humble Fuck Of Death', 'Never Forgive', 'Hardboiled And Still ellbound' and the title track, 'Absence Of War Does Not Mean Peace'. The band will enter Astia studio in late July to record the album. Later in August, the album will be mixed by Mikko Karmila (STRATOVARIUS, NIGHTWISH) at Finnvox studio. "The new material will be reliable Impaled Nazarene, definitely not predictable!", says vocalist Luttinen. You can expect an early October release!" Also, the band's new official homepage is finally open and can be found from: www.impnaz.com. The site will be updated at least twice a week, so it's very up to date.

MAYHEM will hit New York for a show on June 10th and are expected to hit Chicago and L.A., do a couple of dates in Canada and then head down to South America.

This is an open invitation to join the official NECROPHAGIA fan club. It can be found at: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/necrophagia. If you don't have a yahoo ID, it's very simple to make one up. Go to http://www.yahoo.com and click "clubs" and then click sign me up... a few simple steps and your ready to go. The Necrophagia club is for Necro and all of Necro's related side projects like THE RAVENOUS, EIBON, VIKING CROWN, etc.

A CRADLE OF FILTH North American tour is tentatively being booked for late summer. Rumour has it that MOONSPELL has a good chance of joining Dani and Co. on these dates.

DIABOLIC's new album, Subterraineal Magnitude, will be released this fall.

Although MALEVOLENT CREATION was unable to tour this month, MONSTROSITY decided to go ahead and do the five week tour without them. Monstrosity's new 2 CD set, Enslaving The Masses, will be released on May 22nd. Disc 1 has songs from past albums as well as the infamous Horror Infinity tracks, now on CD. Disc 2 is a live album which includes the never released cover 'Deadlock'. Watch for Monstrosity to tour again in July with DEEDS OF FLESH in support. According to a studio report from SIX FEET UNDER's Barnes, posted at www.sfu420.com on April 20th, the band's new CD will be called True Carnage. Some song titles include: 'The Day The Dead Walked', 'It Never Dies', 'The Murderers', 'Cadaver', 'Mutilator', 'Impulse To Disembowel' and 'Sick And Twisted', which features CRISIS' Karen Crisis. Says Barnes, "More than halfway through the mix now... couldn't be more pleased with the sound. Prepare to have your faces melted."

The following was posted at the TESTAMENT website, www.testamentlegions.com, on April 4th. "Hello! Just a little update to let you know that Chuck is doing well. He's been taking it easy and spending time with his loved ones. Chuck has also been meeting with a Spiritual Healer. He told me a little about it, and I was blown away - talk about some deep stuff! Part of Chuck's healing regimen consists of meditating and positive visualization. He's feeling great and sends his thanks to you fans for your wonderful messages! I will keep you up to date right here."

CENTINEX has signed a multi album deal with English Candlelight Records. "We started to negotiate with various labels after we fulfilled our obligations for Repulse Records. The deal Candlelight offered us was extremely good and we are really honored to now be a part of their exciting and professional roster. We feel that Candlelight Records have the potential and will to take us a huge step further on our path towards global Armageddon...." - Martin / Centinex. The new full-length album, titled "Diabolical Desolation", will be recorded at Black Lounge Studios during July 2001. Tracklisting and release-date to be announced. Keep checking out the websites for more info: http://www.candlelightrecords.co.uk, http://www.centinex.com More news: Swedish Underground Records are still alive and they do have a few hundred CD copies left of the first CENTINEX album "Subconscious Lobotomy" (recorded in 1992 at Sunlight Studios). To get a copy of it send 25 US $ to the address below. Cash only, p & p included, airmail delivery. UNDERGROUND RECORDS, Box 56 - 280 22 Wittsjö - Sweden, Phone: ++46 (0)451 910 90, E-mail: centinex@hurricanekennels.com, Labels & distributors should get in touch for trades and wholesale prices. Also, don't forget these upcoming CENTINEX assaults: May 8th: "Hellbrigade" CD (WW III Records) - a licensed US-version, featuring 3 bonus tracks and a slightly different layout. May: CENTINEX / NUNSLAUGHTER: "Hail Germania" split picture 7"EP (Painkiller Records) - featuring one cover track each, limited to 1000 copies. A vinyl dedicated to the German metal scene! June: "Malleus Maleficarum" CD (Repulse Records) - a re-release of the second album, originally out in '96 on Wild Rags. Completely re-edited, including 4 bonus tracks.
  

SIX FEET UNDER are currently Criteria Studios in Miami wrapping up the long-awaited follow-up to Maximum Violence. Metal Blade founder Brian Slagel will once again assume production duties with mixing chores handled by Dave Schiffman, who's recent credits include work with SYSTEM OF A DOWN, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and POWERMAN 5000. The album will include a guest appearance from BODYCOUNT mainman Ice-T. The new album will be released on August 8th. Frontman Chris Barnes describes the album as "fucking brutal death metal with old-school vocals."

KRISIUN are at home in Brazil working on new material for their next full-length, Ageless Venomous. They have been confirmed to perform at this year's Dynamo Open Air festival in Holland and the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. Century Media have announced that they have licensed the band's previous two albums, Black Force Domain and Apocalyptic Revelation, as they have never been available in North America. The reissues, which will include bonus tracks, will be out in the fall.

The following is an up-to-date confirmed list of the acts appearing over four stages at this year's Wacken Open Air Festival: ARTCH, BEHEMOTH, BLACKSHINE, BRAINSTORM, CAGE, CARNAL FORGE, CHINCHILLA, CRYPTOPSY, CULPRIT, DARK TRANQUILLITY, DECEASED, DESASTER, DIMMU BORGIR, EXCITER, EXHUMED, EXUMER, GRAVE DIGGER, HAMMERFALL, HOLY MOSES, IN FLAMES, KRISIUN, LACUNA COIL, METALIUM, MORTICIAN, MOTORHEAD, MAGO DE OZ, NAGLFAR, NAPALM DEATH, NASUM, NEVERMORE, NIGHTWISH, NOSTRADAMEUS, OPETH, OVERKILL, PAUL DIANNO & KILLERS, PRIMAL FEAR, RAGE, SAXON, SINS OF THY BELOVED, SODOM, SOILWORK, SONATA ARCTICA, SUBWAY TO SALLY, TAD MOROSE, TANKARD, THE DESTROYER 666, THE HAUNTED, THERION, TOURNIQUET, VINTERSORG and VOIVOD. Motorhead have confirmed that they will blow the dust off the vintage Bomber stage set and Saxon will do the same with their legendary Eagle Has Landed set.

OPETH are finishing up a ten day tour with Amorphis and then jumping on the Nevermore tour, logging roughly 40 shows in 50 days. Opeth main man Mikael Akerfeldt gave us this update: "We're going to be so tired. Of each other (laughs). No, other than that I've just been doing loads of interviews. There's been so much hype. We've also been finishing up editing a video that we filmed during the recording. We also played a gig with Porcupine Tree in Sweden and that was filmed and will be included on that video as well." "On tour we're going to play the safe cards, the songs we know best," notes Mikael. "Mainly because we don't rehearse that often. This is our first tour for us in five years. But we're excited. Koch has been doing a good job for us. People are telling me the album is easy to find, that it's all over the place."

Bassist Steve DiGiorgio (TESTAMENT, SADUS, ICED EARTH, CONTROL DENIED) has posted the following update on his official web site: "The Iced Earth album, Horror Show, is done and awaiting a mid June release on Century Media. I am no longer working on WATCHTOWER guitarist Ron Jarzombek's SPASTIC INK project... Don't ask. Control Denied's newest recording is still in limbo because of some weird scheduling problems. But some of it is done, and we'll be finishing it up in the coming months. We're right in the middle of the recording of DRAGONLORD. Drums and most of the guitars are done. I'll be starting bass this week sharing time with Lyle's keyboards. Testament hasn't officially pulled out of the shows coming up at the end of May / early June in Europe. We're waiting on Chuck's word and condition. For those of you who don't know about what's befallen Chuck, you can read all about it on www.testamentlegions.com. Writing is still going on between me and Darren for the new Sadus album. Slowly, but slowly."

EMPEROR's new album will be called Prometheus - The Discipline Of Fire & Demise. Tracks set to appear on the release include: 'The Eruption', 'Depraved', 'The Tongue Of Fire', 'The Prophet' and 'Thorns On My Grave'. The drum tracks are finished and the band is currently working on the layers at the Symphonique Studio. The album will most likely be mixed in May at Akkerhaugen Lydstudio, aiming for a fall release. Ihsahn has quoted the album to be "More of everything! It is very hard to make any specific description really."

According to postings on the WITCHERY website, www.witchery.org, drummer and founding member, Mique, has left the band. He had recently become a father and also experienced a very promising career move, which made him come to the conclusion that he had had enough. A permanent replacement has been found in Martin Axe (NIFELHEIM, SATANIC SLAUGHTER). He will be drumming on the upcoming third album, due to be released this summer. The band entered Berno Studio on January 29th and finished recording on February 10th. Tracks set to appear include: 'Wicked', 'Omens', 'None Buried Deeper', 'Inquisition', 'Called For By Death', 'Bonemill', 'The Storm', 'Shallow Grave', 'Unholy Wars' and 'Hearse Of The Pharaohs', which includes a guest appearance by MERCYFUL FATE's Hank Sherman. In other Witchery news, the band are booked to perform at the Inferno Festival in Oslo, Norway on April 13th.

SIGH have finished recording their new album, Imaginary Sonicscape. The tracklisting: 'Corpsecry - Angelfall', 'Scarlet Dream', 'Nietzschean Conspiracy', 'A Sunset Song', 'Impromptu (Allegro Maestoso)', 'Dreamsphere (Return to the Chaos)', 'Voices', 'Ecstatic Transformation', 'Slaughtergarden Suite: I. At Dawn, II. The Dead Are Born, III. Destiny Divided, IV. Slaughtergarden, V. Aftermath', 'Bring Back The Dead', 'Requiem - Nostalgia'.

NECROPHAGIA has inked a deal with Season Of Mist / Renegade Records. Killjoy is joined by Dustin Havnen on bass, Wayne Fabra on drums and Phil Anselmo (formerly Anton Crowley) on guitars. The band will soon be releasing the Cannibal Holocaust EP / Video / DVD. Killjoy says that "Our upcoming album Harvest Ritual will be our heaviest and darkest release ever!  We are going to take everything to a completely new level of horrific-gore drenched metal sickness and depravity."

DARK FUNERAL's new album, Diabolis Interium, was recently mastered at The Cutting Room. The album will have the following tracklisting: 'The Arrival Of Satan's Empire', 'Hail Murder', 'Goddess Of Sodomy', 'Diabolis Interium', 'An Apprentice Of Satan', 'Thus I Have Spoken', 'Armageddon Finally Comes' and 'Heart Of Ice'.

LOBOTOMY's Lars Jelleryd is no longer a member of the band. A replacement is already working with the band, and Lobotomy will tell you who it is in the near future. Meanwhile their fourth album, Dislocated, has been delayed due to personal and line up reasons. The recording should now begin sometime this summer, with hopes of a release before the end of the year. Lobotomy are also planning some dates for the summer.

BORKNAGAR were recently nominated for Best Norwegian Metal Album of 2000, but lost out to IMMORTAL. The band will start recording for their new album in May and will do the mixing in July. Borge Finnstad will co-produce. Some early song titles include 'The Genuine Pulse', 'The Stellar Dome', 'Gods Of My World', 'Liberated' and 'Soul Sphere'.

HOLLENTHON's new album, With Vilest Of Worms To Dwell, is due to be released through Napalm on June 11th. The Australian band features former PUNGENT STENCH guitarist / vocalist Martin Schirenc.

IMPALED NAZARENE's Jani Lehtosaari and Alexi Laiho are out of the band and have been replaced by Teemu Raimoranta on lead guitar and Mikael Arnkil on bass. The band has resigned to Osmose Productions for two more albums and are currently rehearsing and writing new material for their next album Absence Of War Does Not Mean Peace.

Seasons Of Mist will be reissuing the ATHEIST catalogue soon with bonus tracks and liner notes.

KARABOUDJAN is the post Dan Swano project following Pan-Thy-Monium after said project was laid to rest. Taken from the Swano vaults (1996/1997), Karaboudjan's debut entitled Sbrodj is supposed to make Pan-Thy-Monium seem normal and conservative in comparison.

SLAYER are currently in the studio mastering 13 songs set for their upcoming album. Sources say that the recently revealed title, Soundtracks Of The Apocalypse, looks unlikely to be used. With studio time a month more than expected (partially due to work on Tom Araya's vocals), the album is due for release through Sony / Columbia Records on July 3rd.

TWIN OBSCENITY have finished putting the final touches on their new album, Bloodstone. The band recorded the ten-song album at their home studio. Expect to hear 39 minutes of melodic Viking / death / black metal with some more mellow and atmospheric elements than before.

VADER have canceled their Scandinavian tour "due to certain errors". It is not yet known if the dates will be rescheduled for later in the year.

CANNIBAL CORPSE have completed nine new songs for their forthcoming studio album, which is tentatively scheduled to be recorded during May and June.

According to Totalrock.com, VENOM frontman Cronos has recorded no less than three songs for PROBOT, the upcoming metal project from the FOO FIGHTERS' Dave Grohl, but only one will apparently be used on the album, although the Venom bassist / vocalist currently has no idea which one Grohl will choose. The music for all three songs was composed by Grohl, with the lyrics written by Cronos.

DERANGED are releasing their new album simply entitled Deranged and are gearing up for a European tour with IMMOLATION in May. The album will be available in limited edition with slipcase.

According to Digital Metal, HATE PLOW is writing the follow-up to last year's The Only Law Is Survival. According to a statement on the band's website, the newer material is 'faster and leaning towards a more grindcore sound.' Hate Plow has replaced bassist Doug Humlack with Julian Hollowell (KULT OV AZAZEL). Apparently, the band has not heard from Humlack for some time. Hollowell performed the bass duties on their most recent European tour, and is now confirmed to be a full-time member. Expect Hate Plow's newest album sometime before 2002.

ABORTED are in the process of finishing the recordings of their new album "Engineering The Dead". It should be mastered, and mixed by the end of this month. Here's the definitive tracklist: The Holocaust Incarnate, Nailed Through Her Cunt, To Roast & Grind, Engineering The Dead, Eructation's Of Carnal Artistry, Sphinctral Enthrallment, Skullfuck Crescendo and Exhuming The Infested (Necro-eroticism pt II). Promo's should be available in mid April from Listenable Records. The official release is in May, though there is a slight chance that you'll be able to get a limited pressing from the band itself in late April already (this is not sure yet). ABORTED will furthermore release two split MCD's (one with French DROWNING and another with American BRODEQUIN). Expect these to be released in October the latest on the French label Bones Brigade. Each MCD will contain one new tune and a cover song. If all goes well there might even be a very limited 3-way split 10" of these MCD's, so watch out for that. To catch ABORTED live click here. Additionally they will probably join the much talked about VADER / CRYPTOPSY / DYING FETUS tour in September. More info on that soon. www.goremageddon.com

Besides playing gigs and working on the new RED HARVEST album, guitarist TurboNatas is now heading towards a brilliant career as a photomodel in Norway. The beautiful grin of TurboNatas can be viewed in urban newspapers such as Natt og Dag.

BORKNAGAR will enter the studio on May 25th to begin recording their upcoming new album with Borge Finnstad (MAYHEM, ARCTURUS). Tracks set to appear include: 'The Genuine Pulse', 'The Stellar Dome', 'Gods Of My World', 'Liberated' and 'Soul Sphere'. This will also mark the debut of new members Tyr and Vintersorg who is the bands new vocalist. Here is what Vintersorg himself had to say about the new album, at the time before they were entering the studio. "Things are going great. I recorded some vocal tracks, really simple, just some pre-production stuff. I'm really satisfied with it and so are the other guys. I think the new album, in many ways and in my point of view, will be the best Borknagar album. It's cool because this album is going to be a collection album of the whole Borknagar sphere, you will find elements from all the albums, from the first album to Quintessence. There's going to be more of an acoustic thing, which wasn't on the Quintessence album. I came into the process when everything is written, I didn't write any lyrics, I just came in and arranged the vocal lines and I tried to do the vocals a little bit different from Vintersorg and I really want to try to make my vocals a bit different and keep the Borknagar spirit."

Steve Tucker will not be appearing with MORBID ANGEL on their upcoming tours due to family and personal problems. The bass and vocal duties will be handled by Jared Anderson (HATE ETERNAL). Morbid Angel will be heading to Europe the week of April 9th for a five week European tour with ZYKLON and CADAVER INC. in support. Morbid Angel are also proud to announce that they are on the bill for the Extreme Steel Tour starting this June with PANTERA, SLAYER, STATIC-X and SKRAPE.

The following are quotes from SATYRICON regarding their new home video, Roadkill Extravaganza. Frost: "Roadkill Extravaganza is an entertaining and unique piece of documentary, we show our fans how Satyricon on tour is. It includes clips of live-performance and backstage footage and then a lot of on-the-road scenes. In addition to this, we have used this video as a media to answer once and for all many of those questions concerning Satyricon being raised repeatedly. Above all, I consider the video to be a service to the Satyricon-crowd. It has a rather high entertainment factor and a similarly low art-factor. I guess a couple of our views come through in the live-interview sections, but apart from that visions and ideas have little to do with the content. Take it as a Satyricon-on-tour documentary." Satyr: "This video is more like a tour diary and it resembles nothing I've seen before. In between, we have answered all the popular questions that came in via e-mail and therefore we will never answer them again. This is closing the Rebel Extravaganza chapter! This is just us and our crew with our camera showing you our life on the road. It's a true road movie. It  contains backstage footage with fucking Darkthrone, Cronos, Faust, Pantera, Emperor, everybody! The DVD is zone free though, meaning that if your DVD is zone free you can buy the DVD. The next thing from Satyricon after Roadkill is going to be a new album which we will start recording in June. Enjoy the video when you get it. Don' t take it so fucking seriously. There's some killer live-clips there and we've answered the questions you always ask us on the road. There's some funny shit in there too which is not planned, it's a result of boredom. Take it for what it is. A ticket to the hard-core Satyricon fan into life on the road with the Roadkill Extravaganza's." Meanwhile, the band were recently in the studio recording two cover songs for upcoming tribute albums, SLAYER's 'Raining Blood' and TURBONEGRO's 'I Got Erection'.

EIBON will release a rough mix of a new song in MP3 format. It will be free and should be available at www.moonfog.no in early April.   

MONUMENTUM's forthcoming album will be called Ad Nauseam.   

DARKTHRONE will enter the studio to record their next album late June. The working title is Corporal Punishment.   

AD INFERNA have inked a deal with Last Episode. The band will record their debut album in Excess Studios in the Netherlands. The first part of the triology will be called Blind Depths Of The Muse.

ANOREXIA NERVOSA have nearly completed the pre-production of their new album, New Obscurantis Order. Tracks set to appear include: 'Mother Anorexia', 'Le Portail de la Vierge' and 'Stabat Mater Dolorossa'. The band will enter the Drudenhaus studio in the beginning of June for three months of recording with the album scheduled for release in the Fall. The band will perform this Summer at No Mercy Festival in the Netherlands, Carpe Noctem Festival in Geneva and France Le Freewheels Festival in August. The band also have a new website with all the lastest news and regular updates at: www.mother-anorexia.com.   

MISTELTEIN are currently in the Berno Studio recording their second, and long awaited full length album, Completion.

KHOLD have got a new page on the Moonfog site, with a tracklisting of their upcoming album, Masterpiss Of Pain, and two MP3 files. Early listens reveal an old-school Black Metal sound, down beat and live-off-the-floor sounding.

AKERCOCKE have inked a deal with Peaceville. The bands first album for the label, The Goat Of Mendes, is set to be released in May. The tracklisting: 'Of Menstrual Blood And Semen', 'A Skin For Dancing In', 'Betwixt The Iniquitatis And The Prostigiators', 'The Horns Of Baphometh', 'Masks Of God', 'The Serpent', 'Fortune My Foe', 'Infernal Rites', 'He Is Risen', 'Breaking Silence', 'Initiation' and 'The Ceremony Of Nine Angles'. The band lineup includes: Jason Mendonca (vocals/guitars), Paul Scanlan (guitars), Peter Theobalds (bass), David Gray (drums) and Martin Bonsoir (electronics).

EVIL INCARNATE's debut album, Blackest Hymns Of Gods Disgrace, has been licensed to Germany's Morbid Records for Europe. The band have rescheduled their European tour to coincide with the release in September.

On Friday April 13th, GEHENNA and KHOLD will play the Inferno Festival at Rockfeller Music Hall in Oslo, Norway. Both bands will play the main stage. Khold will open the show and Gehenna will play fourth.

VENOM's Archive CD is out through Rialto Records. The set includes 18 tracks covering the bands hits over their career. It's a mix of live and studio tracks.

BLOODBATH are preparing to do a full length album. This is what Anders had to say about it, "Yeah, we're still going to make an album. I'm real excited because once I get into it, I'm so fueled up for it because it's just a total kick down memory lane! Death metal heaven! The old good days we all belong in, in a way. I mean we have written some really vicious Left Hand Path riffs and we're just waiting to record it. Of course we're going to do it at Sunlight, it's the best place to do it. It can't take too long. If it takes over a week to record this then we're doing something wrong (laughs). Mike will do some very gruesome vocals in it, Jonas will play bass and write a few tracks, I mean just give Jonas a beer or two, an old death metal shirt and he'll be into it, and Jocke Petterson will probably play drums on it. It will be on Century Media, we have no title, but we do have a cover. We were contacting Dan Seagrave but he was asking too much, but the cover we have is like a copy of his work, it was in the Dan Seagrave style. I don t know when it will be released but we want to record it when Mike is home from the States and as soon as he gets bored again, we'll do it!"

As reported by www.digitalmetal.com, NAPALM DEATH have cancelled their performance at Metal Meltdown III. "Shortly before boarding the plane at the conclusion of our Asian tour, our drummer Danny Herrera became ill," said a Napalm Death issued press release. "As of this morning, Danny is still quite sick and it is apparent that he will not be able to travel for at least several days. Unfortunately, this means that we will not be performing at this weekends Metalfest in New Jersey. We were very excited to finally return to the States to play and see all of our old friends. We would like to send apologies to the fans and to the staff of the Metalfest and thank them for their support of the band. We are looking forward to coming back in May. See you then!" Napalm Death will return to the States for a string of dates with SOILENT GREEN and ISIS to make up for the cancellation.

According to their label Earache, THE HAUNTED were forced to cancel a string of Scandinavian dates after vocalist Marco Aro was having throat problems. Diagnosed with bleeding vocal chords, doctors forced Aro to stay home and rest for approximately six weeks while his vocal chords heal. The strain on Aro's voice, however, didn't stop the fearless frontman from completing the remaining four dates on their most recent Swedish tour with NASUM and NILE. The band will rest for three weeks so that Aro can recover for the North American tour with DIMMU BORGIR, CANNIBAL CORPSE and LAMB OF GOD.

DESTRUCTION are scheduled to enter Abyss Studios in Sweden soon to begin work on the follow up to All Hell Breaks Loose.

SIX FEET UNDER have entered Criteria Studios in Miami to record the long-awaited follow-up to Maximum Violence. Metal Blade founder Brian Slagel will once again assume production duties with mixing chores handled by Dave Schiffman, who's recent credits include work with SYSTEM OF A DOWN, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and POWERMAN 5000. The album will include a guest appearance from BODYCOUNT mainman Ice-T. The new album will be released on August 7th.

According to UNLEASHED's website, the band are back together and working on a new studio album, due to be released at the end of the year.

AMORTIS will be in the studio in May recording their next album. They plan on recording between six and eight songs with the usual length far beyond six minutes. A few song titles include: 'The Human Puzzle', 'Messiah', '19th Century Love Poetry' and 'The Obscure Dance Of Distress'. They aim to release the album in September.

SACRIVERSUM are planning on re-releasing their 8 track demo, The Shadow Of The Golden Fire, from 1994. The material has been completely remastered and the re-release will also contain four songs from the very first Dreams Of Destiny tapes.

GARDENS OF GEHENNA officially opened their own Anthrazit-Studio with the pre-production of their new album, The Mechanism Masochism. Mastermind Bruno Kramm will complete the material in Danse Macabre Studio this Summer.

AEBA will start working on a new album, Rebellion-Edens Asche, in March. Tracks on the album will include: 'Sacred Angel Demon', 'Flammenherz', 'Rebellion - Des Zornes Banner', 'Spiritual Evolution' and 'Dominion Of Terror'. The release date is set for June 18th.

THE HAUNTED will perform their first and only headline show in the U.S. on Friday April 12th at CBGB's in NYC. The following night the band will embark on the CANNIBAL CORPSE / DIMMU BORGIR / LAMB OF GOD tour.

Grindcore giants DISCORDANCE AXIS are breaking up. Due to severe ear damage, guitarist Rob Marton is no longer able to play with the band. Rather than continue without him, they have opted to call it quits. Their tour of Japan and final show will be done with Steve Procopio (ex-HUMAN REMAINS) on guitar. The final show will be held at CBGB's on Sunday May 13th. The show starts at 5pm and tickets are $5. Acts scheduled to perform include: Discordance Axis, DISSASSOCIATE, DIMITRI GUREVICH QUINTET, ANODYNE and DATACLAST.

VENOM's Cronos laid out a roadmap of the bands that influenced his life, in chronological order up to the present day. Here's the history of important rock through the years, as picked by Cronos: ELVIS PRESLEY, DAVID BOWIE, FREE, LED ZEPPELIN, GENESIS, QUEEN, STATUS QUO, DEEP PURPLE, BLACK SABBATH, SEX PISTOLS, THE CLASH, THE DAMNED, VAN HALEN, RUSH, JUDAS PRIEST, VENOM, SLAYER, EXODUS, CARCASS, MAYHEM, UNLEASHED, THE PRODIGY, NINE INCH NAILS, PANTERA, DARK TRANQUILLITY and ABORYM.

HIRAX' studio lineup has been solidified: Katon W. DePena (vocals), Justin Laurent (CLUSTERFUX) (guitar), Joseph James Hubler (guitar), Shaun Ross (EXCEL) (bass) and Per Moller Jensen (THE HAUNTED) (drums). Ross and Jensen will be performing in the studio only.

HADES ALMIGHTY have inked a deal with Psycho Bitch Records. Their new album, The Pulse Of Decay, will be released in late April.

PHOBIA will release their next album through Necropolis / Deathvomit.

MORBID ANGEL will, after their recent stadium tour of America, be joining Pantera again, on this Summer's "Extreme Steel Tour" , other bands already confirmed are Slayer, Static X and Skrape. Unfortunately due to family and personal problems Steve Tucker will not be appearing with Morbid Angel on their up-coming tours.  The bass / vocal duties will be handled by Jared Anderson of Hate Eternal fame. Morbid Angel are now heading this way, for a five week European Tour with Zyklon and Cadaver Inc. in support, starting on 11th April in the UK. For the exact dates, click here.

TESTAMENT vocalist Chuck Billy has been diagnosed with cancer, according to the band's Official website. The cancer was discovered early and the prognosis looks excellent for maintaining his health. The band will even continue to work on projects as planned. A special message board will be set up at the site for fans to post messages in support of Chuck. 

According to music365.co.uk, SLAYER have come under fire again following allegations filed on March 23rd which holds the band partially responsible for the 1995 murder of a 15-year-old girl. A judge had ruled in January that that the parents of the girl had failed to provide adequate evidence to prove that Slayer were in any way responsible. However, the judge gave lawyers for the parents 60 days to come up with sufficient evidence demonstrating Slayer were in some way responsible for the tragedy. Allen Hutkin's, the family's attorney, believes the evidence added will help their case, which includes a study by the Federal Trade Commission on the marketing of music. Slayer, producer Rick Rubin and Sony Music are all implicated in the lawsuit, which includes intentionally marketing the music to minors. Hutkin believes the music should be restricted to adults only. As reported previously, the three boys convicted of the murder of the girl, Elyse Pahler, had originally said that Slayer's music drove them to carry out the act. However, recently one of the killers told the Washington Post that another member of the three-strong group had an obsession with the young girl. Slayer have 30 days to respond to the new evidence and present their defence before the court.

KATAKLYSM have completed their new album, Epic (The Poetry Of War), due out on September 3rd. The album was recorded at Victor studio and produced by J-F Dagenais. The tracklisting: 'Il Diavolo In Me', 'Shivers Of A New World', 'Era Of The Mercyless (Roma Part 1)', 'As The Glorious Weep (Roma Part 2)', 'Damnation Is Here', 'Manipulator Of Souls', 'Wounds', 'What We Endure' and 'When Time Stands Still'. To celebrate the bands 10th Anniversary, Nuclear Blast will be releasing a surprise limited edition with the new album to thank Kataklysm fans worldwide. Also, the bands new website is up at www.kataklysm.net. Go there for news on the band and to hear samples of new songs from the upcoming album. In tour news, Kataklysm will tour Canada in August with QUO VADIS as support. Talks are underway for a tour in July with VADER. In related news, THE COALITION project is on hold, maybe permanently, due to the hectic schedule of all people concerned and the lack of communication between CRYPTOPSY and Kataklysm. Vocalist Maurizio Iacono will continue studio work this Spring on his solo project L.O.S.T. and his debut release, Living On Sympathy & Trust. 

MURDER SQUAD, featuring members of ENTOMBED and DISMEMBER, are preparing to release their album, Insane, Unsane And Mentally Deranged, through Pavement. For more info and music samples go to: pavementmusic.com

DROWNED have inked a deal with Cogumelo Records and will release their first album, Bone Grinder, through the label in July. They will beging recording in April. Following the release of the album the band will begin gigging, heading first to South America

THE PROJECT HATE MCMXCIX, the side project of ENTOMBED bassist Jorgen Sandstrom, have finished recording their next album, When We Are Done... Your Flesh Will Be Ours

According to IN FLAMES website, www.inflames.com, the live album, Tokyo Showdown, is now mixed and will be released sometime before the Summer. Tracks featureds include: 'Pinball Map', 'Bullet Ride', 'Moonshield', 'Gyroscope', 'Ordinary Story' and more. A video for 'Only For The Weak' will air soon.

According to Blabbermouth.net, HECATE ENTHRONED will enter Elevator Studio in Liverpool on April 7th to finish the mixing of their new EP with producer Pete "Pee Wee" Coleman. The EP reportedly sees a change in the band's sound since the Kings Of Chaos CD while "still capturing the qualities of all of the act's releases so far". According to the group's official website, "this EP shows complete maturity and proves that the band are not afraid to experiment; from melancholic acoustic sections, to trancey keyboards, to heavy groove-laden guitars to soaring clean vocals." Expect the EP to be released in May through PHD/Blackend Records.

EMPEROR's Emperial Live Ceremony is finally being released in America as well. Candlelight Records, in cooperation with Metal Maniacs Magazine, is finalizing a special broadcast of the video of the same name for early May. Stay tuned for details at www.metalmaniacs.com. Also, the band are nearing completion of their new album, Prometheus - The Discipline of Fire & Demise, scheduled for release in October.

PECCATUM's first two albums are becoming available domestically. First up is Strangling From Within with Amor Fati following soon after.

ZYKLON will soon hit the European tour trail with MORBID ANGEL.

MORTICIAN is heading over to Europe for the No Mercy Festivals to support their new album, Domain Of Death, due out on April 17th. The tour begins on April 12th in Osnabruck, Germany and wraps up on April 23rd in Essen, Germany. Other bands on the dates include: MARDUK, VADER, AMON AMARTH, SINISTER, GOD DETHRONED, ...AND OCEANS, BAL SAGOTH and MYSTIC CIRCLE. Mortician will also perform at Metal Meltdown III, Wacken Open Air Festival and Euro Rock Festival.

Watch for BATHORY's long-awaited Destroyer Of Worlds album in late June.

Hellspawn Records is currently putting together a BATHORY tribute album.

According to their website, here is the final tracklisting for CRADLE OF FILTH's Bitter Suites To Succubi EP: 'Dinner At Deviant's Palace', 'All Hope In Eclipse', 'Born In A Burial Gown', 'Suicide And Other Comforts', 'Black Goddess II - Ebon Nemisis', 'The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh' and 'Summer Dying Fast'. The EP, the group's first release through their own AbraCadaver Records, is due out on May 29th.

DARK FUNERAL are in the midst of working on a live video.

MAYHEM's forthcoming live album is due out in June and will feature new studio material.

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