March 26, 2001

EVIL INCARNATE‘s Deathgasm Records debut CD "Blackest Hymns Of Gods Disgrace" is being licensed by Morbid Records for Europe. Because of that the band’s European tour is being re-scheduled until the European release in September. The US tour in the fall is set to be with BLOODSTORM and ABHORRENCE (Brazil). EVIL INCARNATE will furthermore appear on upcoming tributes to TWISTED SISTER and DESTRUCTION on Dwell Records. Witchhammer Productions will re-release a cassette version of "Blood Of The Saints" (the CD version is still available from Deathgasm). T-shirts for the debut CD will also be available in a few weeks from Deathgasm, EVIL INCARNATE and Relapse Records. The band will be auditioning potential drummers soon for the upcoming tours and the creation / recording of their next CD. If you’re interested call: (847)-731-2056

OPETH are gearing up for their debut North American tour in support of their new album, "Blackwater Park". The band will be be touring there for two months and will headline two festivals, Metal Meltdown III and the New England Metal & Hardcore Festival during that time. The tour kicks off on April 6th with a slot at Metal Meltdown III in Asbury Park, NJ, followed by a series of dates with AMORPHIS and SHADOW’S FALL from April 7th in Toronto through April 14th in Worcester, MA at the New England Metalfest. On April 20th, Opeth team up with NEVERMORE, ANGEL DUST and GOD FORBID in Vancouver, BC. The trek with these bands runs through May 20th when the tour wraps up in San Jose, CA. For more tour details go to: www.opeth.com.

IMMORTAL have canceled their appearance at the With Full Force Festival and have now been added to the line-up of bands performing at the Metal Dayz Festival in Switzerland on August 3rd – 5th.

LIMBONIC ART’s Volume 1-4, a four CD set, is out through Hammerheart on March 25th. The set is limited to 5000 copies and includes six vinyl bonus tracks.

Norway’s Voices Of Wonder have released a limited edition version of ULVER‘s new album, "Perdition City", on March 25th. This set comes with a 40 page booklet.

NECROPHOBIC guitarist David Parland has been replaced by Johan Bergebäck (MORPHEUS).

SPV Records and Osmose Productions have inked a deal to bring the entire Osmose catalog to the U.S., effective immediately. Osmose has recently signed five new acts: HOUWITSER, IMPIETY, DIVINE DECAY, ARKHOM INFAUSTUS and DOMAIN. SPV Records will have exclusive rights to the releases. "We are looking forward to bringing Osmose to the USA," said Manfred Schütz, Managing Director of SPV. "Hervé has worked hard to build Osmose into one of the best Black Metal labels in the world and we are excited about working with such a dedicated individual".

Iscariah from IMMORTAL has a new side project that goes by the name WURDULAK. The band also features Maniac (MAYHEM) and Killjoy (NECROPHAGIA). The project’s debut CD will be recorded in Trondheim, Norway in March.

MÖRK GRYNING have returned. The band members have kept a low profile due to other obligations with different bands. With their new album, "Maelstrom Chaos", they have decided to give Mörk Gryning full priority and turn the project into a band. Tracks to appear on the album include: ‘Templars’, ‘The Darkness Within’, ‘Dodens Skald (The Scald Of Death)’ and ‘The Menace’. They also have a new guitarist, Avatar. The new album will be released in August through No Fashion.

Bassist Kelly Conlon (DEATH, MONSTROSITY) has joined VITAL REMAINS.

SOILWORK keyboardist Carlos Del Olmo has left the group. According to Carlos, "I’ve had many thoughts about the touring life, and I found out that I’m not the touring kind of guy."

After years of silence, Sweden’s DIMENSION ZERO, featuring IN FLAMES guitarist Jesper Strömblad and ex-In Flames axeman Glenn Ljungstrom, have decided to make their first full-length album. The CD is tentatively scheduled to be recorded in August 2001 and issued in early 2002.

Guitarist JAMES MURPHY has relocated to Florida after a several-year stint in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is apparently talking about reforming DISINCARNATE with original vocalist Bryan Cegon, who sang on the group’s sole CD, 1993’s "Dreams Of The Carrion Kind".

MISTELTEIN are currently in the Berno Studio recording their second full-length album, "Completion".

According to the CHILDREN OF BODOM website, www.childrenofbodom.net, the band will not tour the U.S. in April since Jaska and Henkka are busy with school. The band are negotiating a new tour for America.

DESTRUCTION recently canceled a gig in Venezuela. On their website, www.destruction.de, the band apologized to their fans in Brasil and anticipated a return to the country by the end of the year.

The following is a statement from ABATTOIR‘s Steve Gaines, "I am quite sure that some of you may have heard that we were playing at Salon Riviera on Friday March 30th. Unfortunately, we have to cancel this appearance. Here’s the story: We are right in the middle of our next album, and every energy we have is being focused on the recording. To change focus would put us about three weeks behind, not to mention the recording time is already paid for and non-refundable, by the way, the recording is going extremely well. It kind of sucks, as we were looking forward to it. Above all, we apologize for the inconvenience this causes to everyone at Quadrivium who sponsor these events, and everyone at Salon Riviera in Huntington Park, and we hope to reschedule our show in late May, if they will have us. This is the ONLY venue in Los Angeles to feature and promote thrash, death, grindcore… you know, all of that good stuff that we who know better crave. Check out their website www.quadriviumlabel.com. We hope to have a more thorough update on the recording in the coming weeks, and a reminder about the Classic Metal Fest in Michigan. Again, our apologies to everyone. Just know that the cancellation is for a good reason and we owe you one. Until next time… stay Metal."

Andy Sneap (www.andysneap.co.uk) has posted the following update on Backstage Studios. "ARCH ENEMY is now finished their "Wages Of Sin" album and pretty killer it is too. Anyone who is already familiar with the band is in for a big surprise once the album is out. Now they have a new vocalist, it kind of reminds me of CARCASS at times – definitely worth checking out. I’m currently just starting work with KREATOR, we are tracking the drums and bass near Hanover at Area 51 Recording Studios. This is run by Tommy Newton who did a lot of work on the early HELLOWEEN stuff, he also played guitar in the band VICTORY which I find quite an odd name for anything coming out of Germany. (Good job Germans are renowned for their great sense of humor!). Tommy is a great guy to work with and we always end up stealing ideas from each other. His studio is very geared towards the metal side of things so it makes my life very easy. We are then doing the rest of the album at Backstage throughout February and into March. Other things coming up: Metal Blade want me to mix the new SIX FEET UNDER album in Florida, early April. TESTAMENT are re-recording the classic tracks from their first few albums with their current line-up plus Alex Skolnick doing his solos. We will be mixing that in early May at Backstage. Mid May through until the end of June sees Mr. BLAZE BAYLEY and band once again working at Backstage on a new album to be released September 2001. And then we have an all new TESTAMENT album throughout July. We are also looking at an ideal new location for the studio, which will make it fully residential and pretty damn awesome to say the least. We are just waiting on planning consent, so fingers crossed, there will be some news on that within the next update."

According to ENTOMBED‘s website, www.entombed.net, the band have agreed to do a set for a performance at the Royal Opera Hall in Stockholm, in a show called Unreal Estate. Their set, that includes the band, 30 ballet dancers and a 10 year old kid, will be the third and final set of the overall show. It will be a live 45 minute performance, featuring new and specially written full-on Entombed material, whilst two choreographers called Bogdan Szyber and Carina Reich will get the ballet performing around the band. Seven or eight of these shows will take place in February 2002. Meanwhile, the band are once again at Polar Studios in Stockholm, working with Producers Nico Elgstrand and Stefan Boman. 12 songs are being recorded, and the current working title for the album is "Morning Star". Also, Entombed have had to cancel their U.S. tour plans for March. They plan to schedule dates as soon as they can.

DIMMU BORGIR‘s new album, "Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia", entered the German Album charts at #16, making it the highest-charting Black Metal album of all time. The album entered the Austrian charts at #23, the Dutch charts at #84, and the Finnish charts at number #11. The album is out in Japan on April 25th. This edition includes the bonus track ‘Burn In Hell’ and a 28 page color booklet. The first pressing will also include a sticker and a second enhanced CD.

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