THE BERZERKER will re-appear for rare UK-only dates, which will form their first shows ever unmasked. The touring line up consists of  Luke 'The Berzerker' Kenny - vocals, Matt Wilcox (now in Akercocke) - guitar, Sam Bean - bass & vocals, Ed Lacey - recording guitarist from both "The Bezerker" and "World of
Lies" albums and Dave Gray (from Akercocke) on drums. For the exact dates, check out our tour dates section.

HATE ETERNAL are scheduled to appear at this year's Metal Therapy Festival held in France. The festival is now in its 3rd year and the 2006 edition will feature some serious Metal heavyweights along with some impressive newcomers. Currently appearing on the bill are: HATE ETERNAL, MOONSPELL, MAYHEM, HYPOCRISY, SOILWORK, AMORPHIS, GOJIRA, IMPARED NAZARENE, DAGOBA, SIKTH, THE OLD DEAD TREE, BLOCKHEADS, MANIMAL, THE ARRS and INHATRED. News for this year's fest is coming in daily and can be found at www.metal-therapy-festival.com. The event is expected to exceed previous years expectations. This year's event will take place at the Galaxie mega hall in Amneville, France. HATE ETERNAL is looking forward to heading overseas for some live dates this spring more than ever. With the disappointment of having to cancel the previous year's European tour, they hope to make it up to their fans this time around. Look for more European dates in the near future

SUN DESCENDS are planning a tour in Germany, Holland etc. from May 13 - June 06, 2006. So far only May 13 and June 04 are booked, so if you can help them out with shows get in touch with the band through their website www.sundescends.com.

Swedens biggest cult act in recent days, NIFELHEIM, have agreed to share a 7” vinyl with Brazil’s legendary VULCANO, to be released via Sweden's I Hate Records. The pressing will be in a limited edition of 1000 copies, 100 die-hard ones with yet to be determined special features and 900 regular copies. Both bands will be sporting new material for this release. Expect this cult item in the first half of 2006.

German HELLISH CROSSFIRE is the latest signing on I Hate and was formed in early 2002. The band is mainly influenced by German Thrash / Speed Metal in the vein of VIOLENT FORCE, LIVING DEATH, TORMENTOR / KREATOR as well as old SLAYER, POSSESSED, DARK ANGEL, IRON ANGEL, HELLHAMMER / CELTIC FROST, SARCOFAGO, VULCANO etc. After a well received rehearsal tape "Unholy Tyranny", recorded in the winter of 2003, the band entered a proper studio in January 2005 for the recording of what was supposed to become the MLP "Slaves Of The Burning Pentagram". However the release became repeatedly delayed due to unlucky circumstances and nothing happened until I Hate stepped in and offered the band a full length LP deal in the beginning of 2006. Consequently the band will record two additional tracks to be added to the 30 minutes of "Slaves Of The Burning Pentagram". The release is planned for early summer of 2006.

Swedish cult oldschool Black Metal maniacs EIDOMANTUM will unleash two brand new tracks that show a new side of the band in that they are decidedly more Heavy Metal in their approach than earlier material. Imagine a mixture between MASTERS HAMMER around “The Ritual”, ARIA and MERCYFUL FATE. Compared to their earlier NIFELHEIM type material 'Fear The Master' and 'Black Aura' are supposed to have a more epic sound, while still being just as pitch Black as their latest 2003 demo "Old Blood". The vinyl edition will be limited to 502 copies and is supposed to be out on on March 13.

Finnish true Doomsters FALL OF THE IDOLS are about to finnish the recording of their debut album due out on I Hate in late spring / early summer. The album will consist of some re-recorded songs taken from the bands earlier demos as well as some brand new material exclusive to the album. The artwork will be crafted by none other than Magister Albert of REVEREND BIZARRE. For more info check out www.falloftheidols.com  

THE GATES OF SLUMBER will be recording their second album  "Suffer No Guilt" at the end of February / early March with the final mixing taking place at the end of March. The recording will be done at the same studio that was used for the "Like A Plague Upon The Land" MCD (out on Hellride Music), Prana Recordings and Multimedia and will be mastered by Steve Austin (TODAY IS THE DAY). Ken Kelly, famous fantasy illustrator / painter that also has cover artworks for giants such as RAINBOW, MANOWAR and KISS on his list is the artist behind the cover artwork. Expect a June release of "Suffer No Guilt". All further info at www.thegatesofslumber.com

CENTURIONS GHOST have published the following statement regarding the follow up to "A Sign Of Things To Come": "Work on the new album is already well underway, 4 songs are completed and in the live set and another 5 or 6 are currently being worked on. So far things are sounding awesome, current song titles include: 'In Defiance', 'The End', 'Only The Strong Will Survive', 'Walking Through Walls', 'Let Sleeping Corpses Die' and 'Bedbound In The House Of Doom'." CENTURIONS GHOST will be playing their first gig of the new year on the 8th of February at The Rhythm Factory, Whitechapel, London and are already working on gigs for the coming year. See our tour dates section for further details.

Sweden’s premier vintage Rockers BURNING SAVIOURS are rehearsing new material for a vinyl 7" to be released on Lee Dorrians (CATHEDRAL) Rise Above Records. The songs for the 7” will be recorded on February 7-8. Preparations are also being made for the recording of their second album “Hundus” due for a spring / early summer release on I Hate Records. The new material, which will be recorded during two weeks at end of March / beginning of April, is said to be much more worked through than the debut and supposed not to disappoint any fan of the debut. T-shirts and even girlies with a fresh, new motive displaying the bands new logo and a band photo in two colors on black cloth are also available from the bands own site www.burningsaviours.com

Due to popular demand I Hate and Protector have decided to re-release the "Echoes From The Past" CD featuring Protector's classic '86 two track demo, '87's "Misanthropy" MLP and '88's "Golem* LP on one CD. The new edition will come in a digipak limited to 666 copies with virtually unchanged layout and exactly the same track list as on the first pressing. www.listen.to/protector

ISOLE has just finished the recording of two new tracks in their own, newly set up, Apocalypse studio. The songs for the vinyl 7” are called 'The Beyond' and 'Beyond The Black II', and display the two extremes of ISOLE. 'The Beyond' is a relatively up-tempo scorcher of a song while 'Beyond The Black II' is a really slow piece of mournful Epic Doom. Despite borrowing its title from the debut album track 'Beyond The Black II' doesn’t have much in common with its name sake, being much slower and with only some parts recognizable from its name predecessor. ISOLE will be recording their second album in their own studio as well and are currently recording rehearsal versions of album songs. Expect a summer release of this album.

I Hate Records is about to re-release "Viaticum", an 11-track full length by Spain’s Doom Metallers GREAT COVEN, that originally was only released on CD-R in 2004. Musically the material is said to combine "CANDLEMASS / NEMESIS and CELTIC FROST in an unholy union." The band is no more these days, but has been re-incarnated as the sludgy / doomy EIGHT HANDS OF KALI with a new singer. The "Viaticum" track list reads as follows: 'Born Old And Tired', 'Reign Of Thorns', 'Satan’s Whore’s', 'King Of Winds', 'Sabbath’s Witching Hour', 'Perpetual Light', 'Great Coven', 'Funeral Of Souls', 'Mourning Of A Newborn', 'Viaticum' and 'Veil Of Tears'.

DESTRUCTION have posted the following message at their official website: "Finally! From today on the Destruction online shop has opened its doors. We will update the shop frequently and release some sold out "oldschool" items in the upcoming months! Check it out and stay tuned!"

Swedish Black Metallers DISSECTION have posted the following message at their official website: "Ever-notorious Dissection will perform their last gig ever entirely based on songs from the band's early releases, called The Last Farewell To The Old Albums, at German Winternoise Festival on January 28 at Eventcenter B 51 in Osnabrück. This is the last time that the group will perform a set based solely on their highly acclaimed "The Somberlain" from 1993 and "Storm Of The Light's Bane" from 1995. This event will also finalize the Rebirth of Dissection, which started on October 30th, 2004 at the Stockholm Arena. Since then Dissection have played 60 intense gigs all over Europe, South America and Mexico! Now the time has come, the end of an era in the band's moving history, a new aeon of ultimate darkness is dawning, which will be introduced with Reinkaos, Dissection's long anticipated third studio album, to be released during spring 2006 after 11 years in the making, on the band's own label Black Horizon Music. Dissection are now looking forward to celebrate this final farewell to the old days together with their audience at Winternoise Festival! Singer Jon Nödtveidt says: 'We are honoured to being able to return to meet our fans in Germany for this event! See you all there!!' Don't miss this special event!"

OBITUARY vocalist John Tardy has posted the following message at the band's official website: "Tonight's show is in Treviso at the New Age! This will be our third and final show in Italy on this tour, so Italy get out and see us!!! We have had some good shows here and hopefully tonight will continue that trend! If you are wondering how come the website hasn't been updated in the last five days, it is because we have not had internet at all. How these businesses survive without it is beyond me! I would like to ask one question of our Italian fans: How come people are allowed to set up and sell our merchandise (bootleg) in front of the club and there is nothing anyone can do about it??? Go to our message board and let me know??? It is just frustrating to see the hundreds of shirts printed without our permission!"

Former Hate Eternal drummer Tim "The Missile" Yeung, who played on Hate Eternal's 1999 Earache debut "Conquering The Throne", took first place honours at this years NAMM fastest drummer contest. Yeung, who is currently putting together a new extreme Metal project with former Fear Factory / Brujeria guitarist Dino Cazares, placed first in the NAMM international Fasted Drummer contest in the "Fastest Feet Category" of the contest. Tim officially came in at 872 beats within one minute. An outstanding 'feet', bad pun intended. Pictures of Yeung and other contest winners can be located here. All of the Fastest drummer competitions were judged solely on single strokes and did not include bounces, presses or buzz. Contestants for required to perform for one full minute and were measured using a "Drumometer". This year's winners received prizes including Two Pearl Drum Sets, a year supply of ProMark drum sticks, two sets of Meinl cymbals, Axis Longboard "A" double pedal, 50 Remo drum heads, and a years subscription to Drum magazine.

Deicide have added an additional South American tour date due to an overwhelming demand. The band will now be performing at Pindamonhagaba in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Sunday February 19th. DEICIDE is scheduled to appear from the 14th of February till the 25th in blitzkrieg across the South American continent, appearing in 5 countries in a matter of 11 days.

Deicide will be heading to South America in February. They will start their tour in Caracas, Venezuela on February 14th and will continue throughout much of South America including Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Ecuador. The band is excited to bring their brand of crushing satanic Metal to their always loyal fans within the southern hemisphere and have high hopes for these concerts in 2006. In addition to the scheduled South American dates, Decide will be playing 3 dates in their own backyard of Southern Florida prior. It's been quite some time since the band has played before a hometown audience and are looking forward to bashing a few bibles and putting some right wing Christians into an outrage.

The release date for the debut of Anger As Art on Old School Metal Records has been set for February 28, 2006. The following is the finalized track listing: 'Attitude Adjustment', 'I Create Your God', 'Wide Awake', 'Hate In My Heart, Hell In My Head', 'Anger As Art', 'New War', 'Wait For The Hammer', 'Blood Of My Enemies', 'Hate In My Heart, Hell In My Head (live)', 'Everybody Dies (live)', 'Anger As Art (live)' and 'Troops of Doom (live)' ­ Sepultura cover. "Thrash being the greatest way of a release of anger - a very primal emotion that we all have. Anger As Art is the band that taps into that emotion from a very real place.  This is not fantasy - it is real. And we all share that same emotion. This band speaks for you", says Steve Gaines of Anger As Art. Adds Patrick Ramseier, CEO of Old School Metal Records: "Finally, relief is here, an outlet to release all the rage and anger, that all of us keep bottled up every day."

DEICIDE's next album will be entitled "The Stench Of Redemption". The record will be the first to feature new guitarists Jack Owen (formerly of Cannibal Corpse) and Ralph Santolla (ex - Death / Iced Earth) who have been touring in the band since the departure of the brothers Hoffman in 2005. In total, 10 instrumental songs have been demoed and Glen Benton is currently locked away working on suitably sick vocals / lyrical themes to rival the brutality of the compositions. "The Stench Of Redemption" will be produced by Jim Morris and the band will be entering Morrisound studios in the next few weeks to commit it to tape for a May release through Earache Records. A full European tour is currently being booked to follow the release. Meanwhile, DEICIDE release their long awaited debut DVD, "When London Burns" on Earache on January 23rd 2006. Featuring a full inflammatory live set shot at The Mean Fiddler, London,
England on November 29th 2004 it's backed up with a bonus 30 minute documentary "Behind The Scars".

Earache Records are to release a Dual Disc format version of the landmark Death Metal album "Altars Of Madness" by MORBID ANGEL on March 13th 2006. Considered by many to be a defining moment in the genre, "Altars of Madness" was first released in 1989 and is still held in reverence by the majority of Death Metal fans. The DVD side of the Dual Disc features the long sought after November 1989 Nottingham Rock City show filmed on the bands first ever European outing, the legendary Grindcrusher Tour (alongside Napalm Death, Bolt Thrower and Carcass), and is the first Morbid Angel material to see an official DVD release. A free replica ticket of this show is available with the first 5.000 copies pressed.

A videoteaser, including bites edited from many of the songs from Norwegian Death Metal band BLOODTHORN's upcoming album "Genocide", has been posted here. The teaser can also be viewed in an online player at the official BLOODTHORN Myspace-profile here. The finished cover-artwork has also been posted and can be viewed at this location. The complete tracklist for "Genocide" reads like this: '...For Those Whose Time Has Come (intro)', 'Blood And Iron', 'Invoking The Apocalypse', 'Nightmare Of Violence', 'They Will Arise', 'Forced Selfmutilation', 'Sacrifical Slaughter', 'Hell On The Eastern Front' and 'Monolith Of The Dead'. "Genocide" was recorded in Godt Selskap Studio (Chton, Griffin, Keep of Kalessin) with Knut Fug Prytz (Necrophagia) producing, giving the album the heavy, thundering production the band sought after. This will be the 4th BLOODTHORN album marking their 10th year since their first release and it will be the first BLOODTHORN album featuring guitarist Ihizahg (ex - Perished, Wurdulak and live guitarist for Mayhem). He's been working with the band for several years now and wrote a good deal of the material on the new album which will be the heaviest and most extreme Bloodthorn album to this day. BLOODTHORN is confirmed for the Wacken Open Air Festival 2006 (alongside other confirmed bands like Cannibal Corpse, Celtic Frost and Emperor), and will start a row of gigs with the releaseparty for "Genocide" February 17th at BLÆST in their hometown Trondheim. Support: Goat the Head. The releaseparty will be streamed live online in its entirety. More streaming details tba. "Genocide" is released by Red Stream worldwide, except Europe: Morningstar Records via Plastic Head.

Montreal's Neuraxis have announced the departure of guitarist and founding member, Steven Henry. The move is the result of "personal and musical differences," though the band emphatically states that the split is amicable. The group will continue as a 4-piece with intentions to recruit a live session guitarist for their upcoming tours. For his part, Henry has released the following statement: "After 13 years as guitarist and founder of Neuraxis, I decided to take a different path. It's simple, the flame of playing Neuraxis is extinct, and gone are the motivation and taste for it. These things happen, especially when I did not expect the band to go as far as it has gone up to now, so it would be ridiculous for me to slow Neuraxis down. I don't want to be a burden, what I want is the band to grow bigger and I don't think I'm part of that equation. I definitely need a break and Neuraxis cannot afford to lose its time waiting for me. There are way too many good things ahead for the band, and I do not worry at all that Neuraxis will do great without me. I wish nothing but the best for the guys, and also that they'll find another talented and dedicated guitar player. I want to thank the guys for their time, friendship and passion for music. I wish them the best! As for me, I'll keep going with my 3 projects: Urban Aliens, Idiopathetics and Empathy Denied."

Los Angeles Death / Grinders COFFIN TEXTS have posted a new mp3 for free download at www.myspace.com/coffintexts. The song 'Final Transformation' is taken from the group's recently recorded session for their new upcoming release "Tomb Of Infinite Ritual". Also available is the track 'To Manifest', which is taken from their 2003 demo. The band is currently looking for a label home after Germany's Morbid Records allegedly dropped the band because they were "taking too long" to record the new album.

The new video from Severe Torture 'Decree Of Darkness' is now available for viewing online here. The video's low budget horror style has already caught the attention of notorious sickos Troma Pictures who will be including the video on a forthcoming DVD.

Due to the split between Elitist Records and Earache, Carnival In Coal's contract with the British label has been deleted. The French duet just inked a contract with French independant label Equilibre Music (Crack Ov Dawn, Zuul FX, Lycosia, MXD). "People at Equilibre are more motivated by working with us than any people at Earache would have ever been now that Lee Barrett's gone" says singer Arno Strobl. "I'm glad we made it with Earache for the thrill of it, that's all. They didn't give a shit about neither CARNIVAL IN COAL nor any other Elitist band except Ephel Duath and Biomechanical which they kept under contract. I wish all our former label mates to find a new deal with a label that will care about them. We learnt we weren't part of the label anymore through their website. I noticed our name was in the "Past Artist" bill. Nobody had kept us informed. I assume this is what they call British humour." he adds. Carnival In Coal will be working this year on a fifth album planned early 2007. "Fear Not Carnival In Coal" and "French Cancan" will be reissued through Equilibre Music as a special digipak this Spring. In the meantime, the duet announces his first live appearance ever! They'll be co-headlining the 5th edition of the Killer Fest (Chaulnes, France) along with Swedish audio terrorists Entombed on the 15th of April, 2006. Carnival In Coal's live line up for the occasion will feature Frédéric Leclercq (Maladaptive) and  El Worm (Wormfood) on guitars and backing vocals, Timmy Zecevic (Wormfood) on keyboards and Alexis Damien (Wormfood) on drums. Other dates to be announced soon. 

After having already reissued "Final Holocaust" and "Enjoy The Violence" Rusty Diamond / Shark Records will also re-release MASSACRA's third full length album "Signs Of The Decline" on January 30, 2006. Just like the previous releases it will once again offer some bonus material, this time 6 tracks off MASSACRA's fourth album "Sick", resulting in an approximately playing time of 71 minutes. "Signs Of The Decline" originally came out on the major label Phonogram Records back in 1994 and was mixed by Colin Richardson. For more info check out www.sharkrecords.de/massa-signs.html

INSISION have announced two upcoming shows with DISMEMBER in Stockholm and bassist Daniel Dellamorte will be featured later today on Swedish national radio. Karsten Thurfjell takes a serious look at extreme Metal on KULTURFREDAG!, today at 16:00 CET (repetition from yesterday's show). For those outside Scandinavian you'll be able to listen again for a week after broadcast here.

The upcoming new RESURRECTED album will been entitled "Endless Sea Of Loss". It'll be released in October / November 2006. The coverartwork will once again be taken care of by Juan Jose Castellano (www.juanjocastellano.com), who's already been responsible for "Blood Spilled". The band has found a new company in the meantime which they will announce by next week.

The following news was posted on the official Century Media website www.centurymedia.com: Legendary grindcore pioneers TERRORIZER, have signed to Century Media Records worldwide. Released in 1989, the bands highly acclaimed and influential debut album "World Downfall" (Earache Records) took the Metal scene by storm. With an as yet unheard of aggression the band became a cult institution even though they quickly disbanded. Following the break up the main founding members, drummer Pete Sandoval and guitarist Jesse Pintado, moved on to join legendary extreme bands Morbid Angel and Napalm Death respectively. The band remained popular through the next 16 years with newer acts citing inspiration from "World Downfall". The massive amount of available bootleg recordings and band merchandise as well as rumours of a follow-up album kept TERRORIZER’s name alive. Now, after what might seem like an eternity of silence, the band have signed a worldwide deal with Robert Kampf, owner of Century Media. Sandoval and Pintado have already started working on a new studio album, to be recorded early 2006 in Florida with producer Juan “Punchy” Gonzalez for a summer 2006 release. “After long negotiations with several labels, it’s official: TERRORIZER and World Management are happy to announce the new album will be on Century Media”, commented the band. For more info check out the following websites: www.freewebs.com/terrorizergrindcore, www.myspace.com/terrorizergrindcore,  www.purevolume.com/terrorizer

The tentative album title for the new SPAWN OF POSSESSION album is "Noctambulant" and a few songtitles (in no particular order) are: 'Lash By Lash', 'Render My Prey' and 'Eve Of Contempt'. The band will enter Pama Studios with producer Mankan Sedenberg on January 13th, and the recording sessions will last a little over one month. Dennis Röndum, drummer and spokesperson of SPAWN OF POSSESSION comments: "All of us in the band are totally hyped up to finally start laying down our new tunes. We just finalised the last instrumental details for the album and all I dare to say at this point is that this is going to be more than a worthy successor to our 2003 album entitled "Cabinet"." In the meantime, artwork has been created by Pär Olofsson (Psycroptic, a.o.) and will be revealed soon. The album is planned to surface in April / May 2006 and the band will start touring soon after as touring options are already being negotiated at this point. For all further info check out the label's website at www.neurotic-records.com.

Decapitated have added new bass player Richard Gulczynski to their line-up. Richard will already share the stage with Decapitated when they tour throughout the US with NILE, starting January 12th in Memphis, Tenn up until February 12th in Ft. Lauderdale, FL when the tour wraps up. Also featured on the bill are Soilent Green, Hypocrisy, Raging Speedhorn and With Passion. For a full list of upcoming tour dates on the "Annihilation of the Wicked" tour, check the Earache tour dates page. Decapitated's new album "Organic Hallucinosis" will be in stores everywhere February 13th 2006.

Keep Of Kalessin have recently launched an internet teaser video for the new album "Armada". The teaser can be found at www.kalessin.no or directly here. The first tunes from the upcoming album are revealed along with the new line-up, introducing Thebon as the new vocalist. He was first seen with the band during their live shows in 2005 and did vocals on their Eastern European tour with EXODUS and HYPOCRISY in December. Keep Of Kalessin have also just finished recording a new video for the track 'Infire' which will premiere in February. The video was shot 100% green-screen and is directed by Rome Ramsies at VisionValley (www.visionvalley.com) who has worked with bands like Slipknot, Sepultura and Mudvayne amongst others. He also worked in Weta Digital for several years during the making of "Lord of the Rings" and he also did CGI for the movie "Pitch Black". 

NECROPHOBIC just signed a new record deal with Swedish label Regain Records (www.regainrecords.com). The band is at Dark Voodoo Studio right now, working on the upcoming album. The engineering is divided between Anders Bentell and Fredrik Folkare (the latter known for being guitarist and producer of Unleashed). The title of the album will be "Hrimthursum", which is taken from the old Norse mythology and means 'The Frost Giants'. The titles of the recorded songs will most likely be (not the running order): 'Slaughter Of Baby Jesus', 'Branded By Light, Enlightened By Darkness', 'Eternal Winter', 'The Crossing', 'I Strike With Wrath', 'Vril', 'Sitra Ahra', 'Bitter Cold Blizzard', 'Serpents (Beneath The Forest Of The Dead)', 'Age Of Chaos', 'Death Immaculate' and 'Black Hate'. You can follow the progression of the recordings in the studio report on the band's website www.necrophobic.net.

Conquer Records from the UK is looking for bands for their up-coming new CD-compilation CONQUER WINTER COMPILATION Vol. 2, that'll be released as a free CD, distributed in the UK, Europe and USA. If you are interesting please contact them at news@conquerrec.com. The label's website can be found here: www.conquerrec.com

DEBAUCHERY cancelled their appearance at the SOUL GRINDING FESTIVAL. Instead the French "gonzo grind core" act HxCxF will participate. For all further info, check out www.soulgrindingfestival.com.

Kansas City’s only Death / Thrash Metal band ARES KINGDOM is releasing their new 12” single entitled "Firestorm Redemption" through NWN! Productions in mid-February. It will feature two non-LP bonus tracks: 'The Undying Fire' and 'The Scourge' (both re-recorded in 2005). Each copy will include a lyric poster. The limited edition “Die Hard” version will be pressed on gold vinyl and include a special issue embroidered logo patch. Their full length CD and LP entitled "Return To Dust" will follow in early March. The gold vinyl LP “Die Hard” version (with a gatefold jacket) will include a special 7" EP featuring the band’s acclaimed 1998 demo, and an embroidered patch. A second single entitled "Failsafe" featuring three non-LP bonus tracks, 'Vultures In The Sky' (originally recorded by L.A. thrashers DÉTENTE in 1985), 'Solis Lacus' and 'Imperium' will appear later in the spring. For more info check out www.ares-kingdom.com, http://nwnprod.fateback.com/

The first release on the newly founded MORNINGSTAR RECORDS label will be the 4th studio album "Genocide" by the Norwegian Death Metal band BLOODTHORN. After years of wanting to start a label focusing on the music itself and not on hype and hunt for profit, MORNINGSTAR RECORDS was established by Keep of Kalessin mainman Arnt O. Grönbech. Arnt comments: "I was totally blown away when I heard the new Bloodthorn album "Genocide" during their mixing-session in Godt Selskap studio, and I simply chose to buy the European rights for this crushing album. This is the album that will give the label a flying start, and prove the labels right to life!" MORNINGSTAR RECORDS will focus on quality not quantity, and with the Head of Business and two producers from Godt Selskap Studio (known for recordings by bands like Necrophagia, Keep of Kalessin, Griffin, Chton, Manifest etc.) on board, this close co-operation with Godt Selskap gives MORNINGSTAR RECORDS an advantage by the possibility to secure a professional recording of their artist. Plastic Head is MORNINGSTAR RECORDS' world distributor, and will make sure the music can be found in most retail stores, as well as specialist stores, across the globe. For further information check out the label's website at www.morningstarrec.com.

The working title for the new MIDIAN album is "Profiler". It will contain between ten and fourteen new tracks. The band is currently working on songs with titles like 'Green Cross', 'Faustian Contract' and 'The Shawcross Redemption'. A website is in the planning stage as well. We'll keep you posted.

BRANDED SKIN have just finished the recordings for their new promo CD at Trollheim Studio. The band is now looking for a label to release their next album. For more info check out www.brandedskin.de

NYC Thrashers Sun Descends premiered their first video clip world wide on their web site. The clip incorporates elements of traditional Kung Fu combat and was shot at the Chinese Kung Fu Wu Su Association in New York City. Mem: "This video clip is very personal to me because it highlights the two most important things in my life; music and Martial Arts." The clip is also included as a bonus on the band's upcoming new CD "Incinerating The Meek". Click here to check out the clip.

The cover artwork for the new Anger As Art album can already be viewed here. It was created by artist Eddie Mize (http://cirquesolutions.com/art/), the layout and design was done by Steve Gaines and Mark DeVito (www.metalbabies.com). "All tracks were produced and engineered by Chris Trent for CT Audio, Los Angeles. We decided to add a few live tracks to the 8 studio tracks. The finished track listing will be posted soon. We are very excited that the future of Thrash is going to be very ANGRY", says Patrick Ramseier, CEO of OSM Records. The CD will be released in February 2006. For more information please visit www.osmrecords.net.

In December 2005 Brazil's Death Metal horde INCRUST recorded a new demo, which is said to be "more raw and rotten". This is the band's 6th release in tape format, and as usual limited to 66 copies only, for die hard tape traders. It is supposed to be released this month. INCRUST will furthermore record a track for a Spanish compilation album.